Make You Feel My Love Book IV
by AsgardianHobbit98
Summary: (Follows the Civil War movie) Maria returns back to the Avengers and begins the adventure of rebuilding her relationship with Steve. After a mission goes wrong, the government comes with an offer that doesn't make the entire team happy. Slowly, the team is torn apart. How will this affect Steve and Maria's relationship and what will happen when an old friend comes back?
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome back to my series! For all you who have not read the first ones, I recommend you read them through to understand some things mentioned here. You can find them via my profile :) Here's some short introductions to them**

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book I~**

[Follows the first Avengers movie.] Maria has a secret, a secret which soon is uncovered. As people find out about her true self, she is forced into an entirely new world, finding new friends, new teammates and a very handsome captain. What will happen when a certain God of Mischief is teleported to Earth, bringing with him an army of things no one on Earth had ever thought they would see?

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~**

[Follows the Winter Soldier movie] With SHIELD's corruption slowly being revealed, Maria slowly finds out new things about her past, both horrible and shocking ones. Steve struggles to grasp the fact that Hydra is back while Maria struggles to keep their relationship working.

 **Make You Feel My Love ~Book III~**

[Follows the Age of Ultron movie] With SHIELD gone and the new Avenger's Tower up and running, everything seems to be running smoothly. Though when Thor comes back, asking his team for help to find the missing scepter of Loki, will everything simply have been a "calm before the storm"? And what will happen when the Avengers have to battle their deepest and darkest fears?

 **For all those who have read the other stories and are still following this, thank you so much! Means a lot to me that you have followed this for so long. I will try to make this better than, say, the second "book"... 'Cause honestly, that was pretty bad. Now, let's start with Civil War, shall we?**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

The wind was softly blowing through her hair. Her heartbeat was calm and steady, and her chin was held high as she stood watching the men she had been training for the past six months succeed on their very first mission as a team. She a soft smile on her lips, happy that they were succeeding and also doing so very well.

"Not a single kill yet," said Logan from next to her as he lazily sat down at the edge of the rooftop they were standing on, his legs dangling over the edge while he lighted a cigar of his.

"That's how it's supposed to be," said Maria with a smile.

"They're taking out criminals. Thugs. An accident here and there isn't so bad, ya know," he replied back, glancing over at her once.

Maria sighed, shivering slightly from the cold winter breeze touching her skin. "They used to be assassins. I understand that _accidents_ happen when you're fighting thugs. God knows those accidents have happened to me. But there's a difference between killing Chitauri or murderous robots and killing humans."

"Even if they're Hydra?" asked Logan. "The same Hydra who literally took your father away from you and destroyed your life?"

"Thanks for reminding me, you're a great friend," she replied sarcastically before sighing. "As I said, accidents do happen."

Logan chuckled; "You just want them to be accidents and nothing else."

"I realize I sound like a hypocrite. I've got a sword. It hurts. A lot. But… Killing is never right," she said.

"Nope," said Logan, breathing out some smoke that sailed away up above his head and disappeared into the night-sky. "But we're heroes. It's okay when we do it."

"Some day, people aren't going to think it's okay anymore… I don't even want to think about what will happen then…"

She could basically hear Logan roll his eyes at her words. He was not as superstitious as she was. Or at least, he did not care. Albeit it was not the best of qualities in a man or a friend, Logan had been there for her through a lot and he had helped her the past six months – not only with trying to get her father's old crew to turn away from the life they had chosen, but also with helping Maria train and understand her own powers better. The past six months had been hard on her, and Logan had stayed with her until the end which she was grateful for. It meant not only that she had gotten a new friend, but also that his rather lay-back and 'I don't care about anything' personality did not bother her as she knew that he, deep down, truly was a good man. And she looked up to him.

"We've got company…" mumbled Logan in an almost growl-like voice.

"I see the gig has already been taken care of?"

The voice caused Maria to jump slightly before she turned around. Much to her dismay, Matt was standing there wearing his Daredevil suit and a soft smile on his lips. Her heart was no longer beating steadily.

"Matt," she greeted simply.

"No hug? We haven't met for over six months! The last time I met you, you had just woken up from being _dead_ … I was worried about you," said Matt simply.

"Thank you. But I'm fine," said Maria shortly.

Matt did not seem to get fazed by her strict voice and beating heart. Instead he walked over to her, casually standing next to her. The two looked out over Hell's Kitchen's harbour where three of Maria's men were chasing down a couple of the fleeing thugs. The others gathering the rest whom they had bound up against a couple of crates, preparing them for the cops to take in once they were called.

"Who are they?"

"My father left behind some messes," said Maria. "He wanted me to take care of it. And I did. With the help of my friend, Logan."

Said man stood up from where he had been standing, continuing to puff on his cigar. He made no move to greet Matt or say anything at all. All he did, was stand by the edge of the roof and stare at Matt. His eyes were illuminated by his cigar's burning end each time Logan inhaled more of its smoke. Maria could clearly see the hostility in Logan's eyes and even though Matt could not see that, she was sure he could feel it.

"They used to be thugs? And now they're hunting down thugs… That's quite impressive," said Matt with a nod of his head and soft smile.

"Turns out that when I have a strong and powerful man standing next to me and my father's blood running through my veins, I can convince certain people to change their lives… Though not everyone," she said. "Some had to be… Left behind."

"Prison?"

"Sort of…"

 _"_ _Ma'am? We've got them all."_

Maria smiled, pressing a finger to her earpiece; "Good job boys. Harry, call the cops and meet us back at the base."

 _"_ _Yes, ma'am."_

She turned her head to Matt, "No need for Daredevil tonight."

"You know, I could help," said Matt.

"No, that won't be necessary," she replied quickly. "They need to learn to be able to handle themselves. I won't be around forever."

"You leaving again?"

Maria exchanged a look with Logan; "I have to go where I am needed… And right now, my team needs me."

"Your team being the Avengers, of course," deduced Matt, nodding his head.

"And Steve…" whispered Maria, her heartbeat raising as she thought of him.

Logan smirked, though his smirk died down as his eyes looked over at Matt again.

"If you ever need someplace to sleep or relax a bit, my door's always open for you."

 _I love you…_

"I bet it is," mumbled Maria, turning around and beginning to walk away from Matt, Logan following her.

"Maria?"

She stopped, turning her head only slightly to indicate to him that she was listening.

"I ruined our friendship, didn't I?"

Logan took a step forwards, appearing next to her. It hurt her to think about it as she knew it was a bit ridiculous to break a friendship, especially a friendship that had given her so much, just over three words said to her when he thought she was dead. Though she felt it impossible to be friends with someone who wanted more than friendship. Especially when her heart belonged to someone else… Especially when her heart held a bit of love for Matt as well.

"Yes…" she breathed, Logan grabbing her hand for support. "You did."

Maria and Logan neared a little shop in the outskirts of Hell's Kitchen. It sold handbags and other little trinkets. The streets were empty and only the faint sound of a dog barking in one of the apartments could be heard. Moonlight shone down over Hell's Kitchen and all was calm. So when two strangely dressed (and armoured in Maria's case) people entered the handbag shop with the sign 'closed' hanging on the door, no one noticed it. A man was standing behind the counter, looking uttermost bored.

"Sorry folks, we don't sell to strange folks," the man said, a smirk on his lips as he straightened his back.

"Shut up Harry," growled Logan while Maria simply smiled.

"Took ya long enough," said Harry, rolling his eyes at Logan before looking at Maria. "Did something get in the way?"

"Just an old friend," said Maria, walking past the counter and opening a door signed 'employees only', Logan and Harry following her.

Behind the door was a small storage room filled with shelves holding stored items to sell along with boxes holding unknown items. Maria, Logan and Harry walked past those shelves towards the back of the room where a small, hidden staircase existed. It was small, so both Logan and Harry had troubles going down it. Though Maria could slip down it easily, much to her delight. There was at least one good thing with being a bit underweight.

Everything was different downstairs. To the left, multiple beds were stood against the wall while there to the right existed an entire training area. There had not been much space to do anything with, hence why the beds were all in the same room as the training gear was, though it was enough for the new team, for now. Harry placed himself amongst the rest, five strongly built men. Two of which had tattoos all over their bodies and during their training sessions, Maria had seen that they both had Hydra's mark tattooed in their neck. Though none of them were a part of Hydra anymore. Those who were had been sent away to the same prison Maria's father was currently held in.

"So, how did we do?" asked Harry, the informal leader of the group as he joined the others, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You did great," smiled Maria, her smile growing wider as she saw the slightly hesitate and joyous smiles from the grown men in front of her.

Logan clasped his hand onto her shoulder; "Six months ago, these men would have still been out on the streets, selling drugs and women. You've changed them."

"I'm glad I could. The world can never have enough heroes," smiled Maria, glancing at the men.

"What will happen now?" asked Harry.

"Now, this place will be yours. I leave Hell's Kitchen in your capable hands," said Maria, walking over to Harry and placing a hand on his shoulder. "If ever you need my help, or if there is something strange going on – do not hesitate to call me."

Harry nodded his head, placing his hand over hers on his shoulder. "Where will you go?"

Maria glanced back at Logan who nodded his head at her, encouraging her to truly go through with what she had been avoiding for the past six months.

"I will go home."


	2. Chapter 2

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 2**

* * *

"You sure you don't want to keep the car?" asked Logan. "I've got my truck back hom-"

"No, please, keep this," said Maria, earning a scoff from Logan.

"It broke down once," he said, rolling his eyes. "Why not let it go."

"It didn't just break down, _Logan_ , it started smoking and coughing," said Maria, shaking his head. "No, that thing is dangerous to the environment and to you. Keep this car. You'll live longer that way."

Logan rolled his eyes again, watching as she exited the very car Tony Stark had given to her when she had left the Avengers six months ago. He did as she did, exiting the car though staying by its side, leaning against it. She rounded the car and joined him, turning her head to look at the Avengers HQ standing off in the distance, waiting for her return.

"You sure you don't want to join us?" asked Maria with a small smile. "Like I said, there can never be too many heroes."

"I ain't joining any more groupies," scoffed Logan before ruffling her hair. "Besides, this is your family, not mine."

Maria smiled at his gesture before nodding her head. "Thank you, though, for everything. I don't think I could have made it through these past six months without you."

"Load of bullshit, but okay," scoffed Logan.

"Shut up," giggled Maria, gently punching his arm. "I'm trying to say goodbye."

"I hate goodbyes," he replied.

"And I mean it. Thanks for sticking by my side through it all. The training with Xavier, the training of my dad's men… It means a lot to me," she said before sighing, opening the back-door and grabbing her bag. "Now to face the surprise of the Avengers."

"Yeah, they'll be surprised… But they'll be happy too," said Logan before wrapping a single arm over her shoulder. "Bub, take care of yourself."

"You too," she smiled as he let go of her.

"You know me, I never do," he grinned at her as he sat back down behind the wheel, closing the door after him.

Maria stepped back slightly as she watched Logan swiftly drive away from her. As he disappeared at the horizon, she turned her face once more towards the path leading up to the Avengers HQ. This was something she had been dreading to do for the past six months; to walk back to her old life and return to the family she left behind. In all honesty, leaving them had been a good decision. Not only had she had the time to clean up what her father had left behind, but she had also had the time to come to terms with her life, her past and her current powers. Professor Xavier had helped her with that, having helped her train and truly get back her abilities from her childhood. They were weak as they had been dormant for so long, though they were there now and she could feel them. She had actually always been able to feel them, just that she had never understood what they were. It felt like a small, nagging void inside of her which now had grown because her powers were back, though it felt good. She clung onto that void for dear life, knowing that that void was her and that it was the only thing telling her that she was still alive and not there in the vast darkness that had been death.

What were her powers, you ask? Apart from being able to move smaller objects away from her or towards her, she did not know. Neither did Xavier know. But the ability to move things with her mind, albeit they were small things, was more than she wanted. Though they had both felt that there was more inside of her. And considering that Hydra had been after her powers, Maria doubted that the small telekinetic power she did have was all she could find inside of her. Why else would they have been trying to recreate her and her powers if there wasn't more to it? She had the nagging feeling her father knew, but she refused to go to him again. He was out of her life and she wanted to keep him out of her life.

Walking up the gravel pathway towards the HQ, Maria sighed to herself. Yes, the past six months had been crazy and this was the thing she had dreaded the most, but now that she was on the path and seeing the building with her family waiting inside – although they did not know she was coming back – made her feel content. More content than she had felt in the past six months and more content than she had actually thought she would be. The void inside of her which fuelled her powers was still there, though it felt better than before and she smiled, knowing that she was on her way home.

Although things did not go as smoothly as she had thought they would go. Just as she was about to come within 500 meters of the building, a shadow passed over her and two feet landed behind her. She would have turned around, had her eyes not noticed the person's shadow had had wings.

"You are trespassing on military ground," said a familiar voice, causing her smile to widen. "Please state your name and business here."

"I would think I of all people won't have to do that. I was a part of the founders, after all," she said, turning around slowly with a smirk now visible on her lips. As her eyes were about to land on her dear friend Sam Wilson standing there, fully dressed in his suit, a pair of strong arms engulfed her – surprising her so much she lost her grip on her bag and stumbled back a few steps.

"Maria…" breathed Sam into her ear and she chuckled, gently placing her arms around him as well.

"It's good to see you too," she said with a wide smile, causing the man to let go of her and step back to look her over.

"Where on Earth have you been all this time?" he asked her.

"Oh, a little bit of here and a little bit of there," she said with a shrug. "I've been… reminiscing."

"Don't use no fancy words with me, miss," he said, wagging a finger at her jokingly. "You've been gone too long. I lost the bet."

"Bet?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He grabbed her bag for her and began to walk her towards the entrance of the HQ.

"Me and Stark made a bet for when you would come back," he said. "I bet five bucks you would come back within two months. And here you are, six months later… He ain't gonna stop talking about his win."

Maria chuckled, "Glad people took this all serious."

"Come on, M," said Sam. "You _belong_ here. Of course we ain't gonna take it serious."

She only shook her head at that as he opened the door for her, his wings already retracted so he easily could enter behind her.

"Besides, you weren't actually gonna leave Steve alone after that kiss," he teased, clapping her on the back as he led her down the hallway.

She blushed, remembering the fiery and passionate goodbye between her and Steve. At the moment, she had not thought about the fact that _everyone_ had been watching the two through the windows, and now that she did think about it, she could not help but find it a little embarrassing. Though the embarrassment went away as she realized that she would meet Steve soon. The void inside of her lit up, as though someone had literally placed a match inside of it and lit it. Her entire body tensed up at the thought of seeing Steve, though it tensed up in a good way. She had missed him and wanted nothing more but to meet him again.

"Also, what's up with the 'you're trespassing' thing?" asked Maria, the two still walking down the hallway.

"Oh, just a new thing Stark installed when he came to visit us a while back. Some security in case anyone did find this place," said Sam. "I'm on guard-duty today."

Maria snorted, "Guard duty? What's that?"

"If the alarm actually goes off, I'm supposed to check it out," said Sam, gesturing towards his wrist where a, what looked like, small apple-watch was attached to his wrist. However, as he touched the touch-pad, it lit up with a small holographic picture of the facility. A small, red dot was visible by the entrance where Maria had triggered the system and she watched as Sam, with a small flick of his finger, removed the dot. Much to her surprise, the lights inside of the building became slightly brighter and she realized a silent alarm had been on the whole time she had been in there. "If it's big, I call for back-up."

"That's why you're suited up," explained Maria to herself, nodding her head. "Alright, pretty cool."

They entered the kitchen and living room area on the second floor. Much to her delight, which surprised her as she had been ready to feel miserable and nervous when returning, the others Avengers were there as well. Vision, Wanda, Natasha and Rhodey. Albeit the newest Avengers were still somewhat of a mystery to Maria, she was still happy to see them. Upon seeing Maria, Natasha stood up from her seat at a kitchen counter, her mouth forming a surprised O.

"Maria?" she asked and before Maria could respond or even nod her head, Natasha's arms were around her. "Not that I didn't know you would come back…"

Maria smiled widely as they let go of each other, "It's good to see you too, Nat."

"But I gotta ask, why did you come back now?" asked Natasha. "From what I've heard, you were starting your own team."

"What?" asked Maria surprised. "Where did you hear that?"

"I've got contacts everywhere," shrugged Natasha, nonchalantly walking back towards the kitchen and beginning to pour herself a cup of coffee.

"Well, you're not wrong. I suppose in a way I'm still their, uh, leader," said Maria. "But they can manage on their own. My father left some unorganised people behind and I trained them to something else than they were."

"Meaning Hydra agents?" asked Natasha, the other three Avengers and Sam simply watching them interact.

"Yeah," nodded Maria. "But they're better now. They run a shop, earn honest money, and make sure the city's safe at night."

Natasha glanced back at her, simply nodding her head. It was obvious she was thinking something, wondering something, though deciding against stating her thought out loud. Maria could not help but wonder if Natasha had the same doubts as her about the group of previous criminals she had just left behind. Of course both she and Natasha, and Wanda standing a little away from them, were all three previous criminals as well and none of them had yet gone back yet. Then again, none of them wanted to be criminals either. Those men Maria had left behind… she was not sure of what they wanted.

"So, how's everything going?" asked Maria, turning to look at Vision, Wanda, Rhodey and Sam.

"You mean with their training?" asked Natasha with a smirk on her lips, leaning against the counter. "Good. Though they still need some more time before we can call them a team."

"I'll be glad to help," said Maria, smiling at the four newest members.

The lights were dimmed suddenly, making Maria tense up slightly. Sam's watch beeped and as he lifted his arm, a holographic picture of the facility showed a small, red dot on the roof. Wanda looked up, a small worry in her eyes. Maria did not miss the concerned look Vision sent Wanda when she did not notice and a warmth spread through Maria's body, wondering if Steve ever looked at her like that when she was not looking at him… She briefly wondered where he was when Sam cut her off.

"Duty calls… again," said Sam before jogging off.

Rhodey and Wanda shared a glance, making Maria furrow her brow.

"This never happens," explained Natasha as she walked over to stand next to Maria. "The alarm never goes off. And now, it's gone off twice in one day."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," said Maria, looking back over at the three newest members as though to reassure them. "Is there anyway to communicate with him?"

Nat nodded her head, grabbing something from her pocket. It was a small ear-piece which she handed to Maria, "Welcome back."

With a smile, Maria placed the ear-piece into her ear and walked over to the large windows placed by the sofas and TV. While Nat stayed by the kitchen area, the three newest members joined Maria by the windows. She pressed a finger to her ear-piece.

"Sam? What do you see?"

 _"I'm not seeing anything…"_

Albeit none of them could see up on the roof through the windows, all of them tried to crane their necks to see upwards, all but Vision who probably knew it was no use to even try.

 _"Wait a second…"_

"What? Sam, talk to me."

 _"I can see you."_

Maria exchanged a look with Rhodey who had a question in his eyes to which she shook her head, "He can handle this until he says he can't."

 _"Hi, I'm Scott."_

Through the ear-piece Sam had kept on, Maria and the others could vaguely hear the voice of a man. Albeit the voice sounded worried and a little nervous, there was something about hearing a unfamiliar voice that triggered all Avengers' worry. Natasha joined them by the windows, standing next to Rhodey.

 _"What are you doing here?"_

 _"First off, I'm a big fan."_ Maria and Natasha exchanged a look, not quite knowing what to think of the situation.

 _"Appreciate it. So, who the hell are you?"_

 _"I'm Ant-Man."_

 _"Ant-Man?"_ His voice sounded amused and Maria pressed her ear-piece.

"Don't judge people's name, Sam. That's not who we are," she said, earning a look from Natasha to which she just shrugged. "Just saying…"

 _"What you haven't heard of me? Nah, you wouldn't have heard of me."_

 _"You wanna tell me what you wan't?"_

 _"I was hoping I could grab a piece of technology. Just for a few days and return it… I need it to save the world… you know… how… that is, heh…"_

"Bring him in," ordered Natasha. "Let him talk to us."

 _"Copy that._ Ant-Man _, you're coming with me."_

 _"Sorry about this!"_

"Sam? What's happening?" asked Maria.

 _"Breach is an adult male who has some sort of shrinking tech!"_

"Did he attack?" asked Maria. "You need back-up?"

 _"No, ma'am, I can handle this. He's the size of an ant, what can he do to me?"_


	3. Chapter 3

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 3**

* * *

"He's the size of an ant," repeated Maria in a mocking tone. "What can he do to me?"

Sam sighed, wincing as Maria pressed a soft cotton ball to his bleeding nose.

"Your suit's broken," stated Maria, Natasha standing behind her with her arms crossed over her chest. "The breach got away. _And_ he managed to steal something."

Another sigh escaped Sam's lips, his own fingers replacing Maria's on the cotton ball. "Yeah, sure, no back-up needed."

"Look," sighed Sam. "I thought I had it handled."

"No, Sam," scolded Maria. "You _knew_ you had it handled. Never underestimate an opponent. The moment he punched you the first time, you should have called for back-up. We're a team. Don't be an arrogant douche-bag."

Sam rolled his eyes at being scolded like he was a five-year old little boy, though still he nodded his head, understanding what she meant.

"Confidence is good. Just don't be too confident," said Maria.

"Imma find him," moped Sam. "I promise."

"Very well," sighed Maria, turning to look at Natasha. "In the mean-time, Wanda's taken over your guard-duty for now. You can't have it when your suit's broken."

Sam nodded his head, wanting to defend himself through knowing he would get nowhere. The lady in front of him was at least five years younger than him, though the respect she had on the team, the experience she had and the look on her face made her feel much older than him. He admired her for what she had managed to accomplish so far, and wanted to be like her. Though if he kept failing like he had done that day, there would not be much room for him to accomplish what she had.

"Don't worry about it," said Maria, turning around as though she had heard his thoughts. "Everyone makes mistakes. I did and still do. At least he didn't steal anything of importance. Otherwise we would have already found out what it was he did steal."

"It was square… if that helps," shrugged Sam, earning a chuckle from Maria.

"That helps a lot, thanks," she chuckled before turning to leave his room with Natasha trailing behind her.

"Also," he said, causing both women to turn around again. "It's very important to me that Steve does not hear about this."

Nat and Maria exchanged a look, knowing that out of all the original Avengers, Steve was the most respected and the one considered as the leader. Apparently, Sam thought that if he heard of Sam's little mishap, he might not trust Sam anymore. Though Maria and Natasha both knew Steve better than that.

"Very well," said Maria with a nod of her head. "Try to lean your head back, might stop the bleeding."

They left him in his room, alone, and walked down the hallway in silence.

"Where is Steve anyway?" asked Maria, asking the question that had been itching inside of her since she had arrived that day.

"He's on a mission. If I'm not mistaking, he should be back tonight," said Natasha with a knowing smile. "It was quite a heated kiss you two shared six months ago."

"Oh God…" sighed Maria.

"That's okay, I've seen worse on Clint's web-browser history."

Maria stopped by her bedroom door, a slightly disgusted look on her face. "I don't think I want to know…"

"No, you don't," chuckled Natasha.

"How is Clint?"

"He's fine," smiled Natasha. "Living a normal life… For now."

"Let's hope he can stay living a normal life," said Maria. "And… And Bruce?"

Natasha's smile faltered slightly at the mention of his name. It was unusual to see the assassin show her feelings so well, though most likely the mention of his name had come as such a surprise to the woman that she had just not been able to stop her emotions from showing.

"Not a word…" was all Natasha said before turning and leaving Maria alone.

Her heart ached for Natasha, knowing what heartbreak and loneliness felt like. Though there was not much that Maria could do except to try and never mention it again. Avoiding problems usually is the worst thing to do, though Maria knew from experience that, sometimes, it's the best thing to do.

Entering her own room, she walked towards the centre of it. It looked as plain and modern as it could, barely having any personality to it nor any sort of decorations. Sam's room had been filled with posters, books and sprawled out (probably used) clothing. It looked personalized and lived in while Maria's was… plain. It made her feel less at home even though she knew the reason behind it was her absence. She made a mental note to one day go out shopping to find some things to decorate her room with. Not only that, but she was in desperate need of new clothing after having carried around the same pairs of jeans, shirts and jumpers for the past seven years, since joining the Avengers. Besides, she also had a bath-tub in her own bathroom and if there was one thing she loved more than relaxing and watching Batman movies, it was taking a bubbly and warm bath. But for that she needed products – all things she would have to buy some day when she got the time, and the money. Tony would probably pay for it…

Walking over to the bed, she let herself flop down on the comfortable bed. The previous night had been long and she had barely gotten any sleep apart from a small nap in Logan's car on the way to the Avenger's facility. Though it had not been until she had laid down on the bed that she felt just how exhausted her body truly was. Her plan had been to unpack her bag laying on the floor, though her eyelids suddenly felt very heavy and she felt herself be drawn into a dreamless nap.

Four hours later, she awoke with a start. Her head felt heavy after such a long nap and she rubbed her hands over her eyes. Sighing at the sight of her still packed bag, she stood up and entered her bathroom, splashing some water on her face to wake her up a bit more. Her phone told her it was seven in the evening and her stomach told her she had missed dinner. Shuffling down the hallway, her hair most likely looking like a bird nest, she entered the kitchen.

Wanda was still there by the dining table, drinking some tea while Vision was over by the counter, placing dishes into a giant dishwasher Maria had not noticed before. Before Wanda was a PAD on which she was reading the news. Her eyes looked up at Maria as she shuffled into the kitchen and by the amused look on the girl's face, Maria's suspicions of a bird nest on her head were confirmed.

"Sam did not want to wake you up. He said that in-between snores, you had looked very peaceful," she said.

Maria could not help but hear that Wanda's accent had faded slightly. Although it was still there, it was obvious that after six months of speaking with Americans, her accent had begun to fade.

"Urgh…" responded Maria. "Didn't get much sleep last night."

"Oh," responded Wanda, tilting her head to the side. "Who was it?"

From the kitchen area, Maria heard Vision drop a cup against the counter at Wanda's question and she smirked.

"No one," Maria chuckled. "I meant, I had been up all night making sure I could leave the team of thugs behind to work alone."

Wanda smirked, "Seeing as you're here now, I assume they could?"

"Yeah, they did well," smiled Maria.

The tension that had been between the two women before Maria had left was gone. Whether this was because Maria had forgiven Wanda or because Maria's hurt feelings had been forgotten, she did not know. But she was glad there was no tension between the two anymore. Each time Maria met a new woman, there would always be some tension between them. Not because of jealousy, but because of Maria's past. Now that she had been working with Xavier for a while, a man who could read her mind, she had found out that her resentment towards women came from unprocessed anger towards her own mother. Her mind had generalized that all women would abuse her and hate her which Xavier had helped her work through. Now, she had met several women at the mutant school without feeling any tension or fear towards them. It felt peaceful.

Vision joined the two women a bit later, bringing with him some leftovers from dinner for Maria. The three of them talked for a long while, the summer sun outside of the facility slowly descending, the moon replacing it instead. If you would have asked Maria six months ago if she and Wanda would ever become friends, she would have said no. But now, things looked differently. Maria was different and more like her old self and the two women got along really well. Vision watched them interact and sometimes joined in, trying out some new social skills of his and all in all, the three had a nice evening.

It was when Wanda decided to go to bed that the social evening stopped. Vision wanted to walk her to her room, which made Maria smile a knowing smile, and so she was left on her own. For a little while she just sat at the dining table, listening to the dishwasher buzzing while she stared out through the large windows and out into the darkness there. Soon, she found herself wandering around the facility. She was tired, though something kept her from going to bed; an unconscious fear of missing Steve's return from his mission.

She found herself wandering into the labs. They were quiet and dark, only some automatic lamps turning on at sensing her movement. Her thoughts went back to when she had gone over to Bruce and Tony a couple of years ago to learn more about her healing abilities. The science brothers had truly been trying to help her understand her powers and she felt a wave of gratitude wash over herself towards them. Though it was mixed with sadness at the fact that Bruce was not there anymore. Whether he would ever come back again, she did not know. Bruce had never really wanted to be a part of the Avengers, unlike her, and therefore it was hard to say whether he would return or not. Though she hoped he would.

Sitting down at one of the desks, her mind recalled the memory of Bruce and Maria's conversation at Clint's house, back on their latest mission together as a team. He had wanted to tell her something and her heartbeat quickened as she remembered it had been about children… She clenched her fist, wanting nothing more but to know what he had been going to say to her. Her body ached to fulfil that one dream she had, that one dream the doctors had told her she would never be able to fulfil… But Bruce had said something, or at least wanted to say something on the matter until they had been interrupted. What had it been?

Perhaps Tony knew… They did work together after all…

"Romanoff told me you had returned."

The sound of the familiar voice caused Maria to gasp in surprise and jump down from the desk. She turned to face him, her eyes wide with anticipation and happiness. She had not seen him for so long now… It nearly hurt her more to see him again then to not see him again. He was even more handsome then she remembered him to be and to think that she had purposely avoided being close to him, the most handsome man walking on Earth, hurt her.

"I barely believed it…" he breathed.

They were stood several feet apart, simply staring at each other after he had spoken. The silence that had fallen over them felt like it was choking Maria. All she wanted was to talk to him, ask him what she had missed during those six months and tell him all about her own adventure. But her voice would not work. She was breathless after finally getting to see him again. It was almost as though all the feelings she had ever had for him just overwhelmed her and entered her all at once. Years of feelings, attraction and lust… And then he parted his lips to say something, and it felt like her entire world had been lit on fire – a passionate and warm fire.

They were reunited again, though how was he going to react to it?

* * *

 **I'm such a tease... Hehe**


	4. Chapter 4

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

"Maria-" he said, looking a little lost after the silence that had appeared between the two of them. That alone was enough for Maria to spring to action. Her primitive side awoke within her and she ran over to him, grasping onto him and hugging him close to her. He wrapped his arms around her too, holding her equally as close to her as she was and although the hug hurt physically, it felt amazing all at once.

"Never again…" she whispered, gently brushing her lips against his ear as she did. "Never be apart again…"

His arms curled tighter around her, if that was even possible, and he pressed his face against the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent. "Never again…" he repeated.

Neither of them knew how long they stood like that, simply hugging each other and revelling in the feeling of finally having each other close again. Their body heat mixed together and their surroundings faded. The only thing that was important to either of them, was the person in front of them.

It was Steve who pulled away first. As the gentleman he prided himself on being, he tried his best to keep himself in control, to simply offer her a cute smile instead of taking her right there and then the way he actually wanted. It was a side-effect of not having seen her plumb lips and beautiful, twinkling eyes for so long; A side-effect he could not help but blush at.

Maria smiled at his blush, not knowing the full reason behind it. She gently traced her fingertips over his reddening cheeks, feeling the outlines of his cheekbones and the softness of his skin. There was nothing more perfect in the world than Steve in her eyes. She could see his skin as though there was a fuzzy effect on it, making him shine and look completely angelic. None of the small imperfections were noticeable to her. Not the small scars from years of being Captain America, none of the small wrinkles in his skin as he smiled at her… All he was in her eyes, was perfectionism.

"I've missed you…" she said quietly, instinctively leaning up to his lips. She was not a gentleman, or lady, and was not prepared to keep her inner beast at bay. The void inside of her was on fire and she knew that she could probably lift an entire house with the energy she had gained from finally meeting Steve again. Something inside of her ached for him… And she was not about to just let this moment slide away from her.

Though Steve noticed the look in her eyes. The fire that had erupted in her emerald eyes, twinkling at him and enlightening the same fire inside of him. Though he was not about to let into such feelings. Not now when it was all just lust and less passion and love. Hell, he was not even sure what sort of relationship they were in anymore. At one point she had been his girlfriend, at one point she had been his fiancé. But then he hurt her and she hurt him. And then she left him completely… Where were they now? What were they now?

Gently, so as to not hurt her too much, he leaned away from her inviting lips. Taking a step back, he tried his best to control his own emotions and the pain it caused him to step away from her.

"I've missed you too… So, so much," said Steve before gently grabbing her hand. "But let's build this up again. Slowly."

The fire that had been in her eyes disappeared and was replaced with a gentle light of hope. She smiled at him, "Let's work our way back up to that point… It's the only thing I want right now."

"Good," smiled Steve, gently squeezing her hand before she shifted so she was leaning against his arm.

Hand in hand, they left the labs and walked down the hallway towards their rooms in silence. Neither of them talked to each other, none of them said a word or even wanted to say a word. All either of them wanted was to be close to the other and for that, neither of them needed to say a word.

Steve's room was still next to Maria's and when they reached her bedroom, Steve leaned down to her cheek and pressed a loving kiss to it. His mind went back to a certain moment they had shared together a while back…

 _He gently placed a kiss against her forehead, his lips lingering there for a while before he pulled away just enough for him to speak; "Only your forehead is this beautiful."_

 _She furrowed his brow at his words, cocking an eyebrow at him as he smirked down at her before he shifted slightly, pressing a kiss to her right cheek; "Only your cheek is this beautiful."_

 _A smile started to appear on her lips as her heart warmed up at his words. Her hands reached up to grab onto Steve's arms, holding him close to her._

 _Then, he shifted slightly in order to kiss her nose gently; "Only your nose is this beautiful."_

 _She giggled at his antics this time, a genuine smile spreading across her face and reaching her eyes, making them glisten as she looked into his perfect, blue ones. And then, her smile faded as he moved so that his lips were lingering close to Maria's. An intense feeling took over her body then and there. An intense feeling that she hadn't felt before towards anyone. A feeling of neediness; a feeling of pure and other admiration._

 _"Only your lips are this beautiful," he whispered, his breath touching her lips and making a warm sensation run down her spine…_

His lips lingered close to her cheek, a new fire igniting inside of him which was making it difficult for him to move away from her. Their hands were still intertwined with each other and she glanced at him, afraid to move her head as she herself was relishing in having him so close to her. She could clearly see the conflict in his eyes. The fact that there was a conflict in his eyes made her move back from him, leaning against her bedroom door as she gently placed a soft kiss to his knuckles. She wanted to be close to him and not start from square one. Though if he was conflicted about what to do, she was not going to be difficult about it. They had a plan, they were going to start anew. And she was going to help him get through it.

He sighed unconsciously at her moving away from him before smiling at her gesture.

"Good night, captain," she said, gracefully opening the door and sliding inside, only letting go of his hand at the very end when she had to close the door behind her.

Steve stayed standing by the door, his face inches apart from it as he continued to fight the fire inside of him. Maria was on the other end, sliding down the door as she took deep breaths to control herself as well. The fire and the joy of being reunited with him was so much… So perfect…

She turned her head to listen through the door, hearing him softly begin to walk away. With a soft smile on her face, she stood up again and let herself fall down onto her own bed.

Indeed, she was home again.

* * *

She, Wanda and Natasha had breakfast together. All three girls had been up later than any of the men, who most likely were already downstairs exercising or preparing for the morning training session; the first one with Maria there as well. They enjoyed each other's company even though Natasha was mostly quiet and listened in on their conversation, sometimes making a joke or two.

As they had eaten all of their breakfast, they made their way downstairs to where the training rooms were. Steve was jogging around the rooms with Sam in tow. They were talking, even though Sam looked a little more than out of breath, and upon seeing the three girls arriving, they jogged over to them. Vision gracefully walked over to them while Rhodey put down the weights he had been lifting and joined them as well.

Steve and Natasha explained what the usual training sessions looked like. In the morning, each of them did what they wanted individually. Steve usually training with Sam and Rhodey, doing some weight lifting or cardio. Natasha and Wanda sometimes joined them, though usually Natasha did her own thing while Vision and Wanda tried their best to understand and train their powers – either through meditation or actually practicing. Maria nodded her head, feeling more excited about the afternoons in which the new Avengers got to go through simulations to train as a team and work together. She wondered how far they had gotten with Steve and Natasha's help.

"I'll join Wanda and Vision then," said Maria, earning a surprised look from Steve and Natasha. "Six months of training and I can now lift some things with my mind."

She continued on telling them about Xavier and his help. How she had found out about the void inside of her and how she could use it on physical objects. Also, she showed them her new sword and all of them had been extra interested in the gems on the handle. She made sure no one touched the sword, having had a small accident with Logan a month ago which told her exactly how dangerous it truly was to others. Luckily, Logan could heal. Though none of her family around her could.

They scattered afterwards, Maria followed Wanda and Vision to a little corner of one of the training rooms and sat down with them on the couches. In front of them was a little table filled with objects. Maria learned that Vision was actually the one training Wanda, seeing as he already had most of his powers in control. The only thing Vision was still trying to figure out was what his powers were and where they came from. A question Maria and Wanda were both equally as interested in.

While Maria could lift little objects without any hand-movements, Wanda's powers looked a little different. She could move bigger objects as well, and always used hand-movements and soft, red mist to move things. Maria wondered if her powers would have a color as well, or if hers were simply different, originating from somewhere else.

Towards the end of the training session, close to lunch-time, the three of them had been talking about the various speculations around Vision's powers for quite some time. Vision had been smiling at the crazy ideas Wanda and Maria came up with – crazy and not so serious ideas – and he still wore the same smile as everyone went upstairs for lunch.

The sun was shining in through the windows and Maria left Wanda's side upon seeing Steve sitting in a lonely chair by the windows. Sam had been eyeing him every now and then, a worried look on his eyes. Though he had stayed away from Steve sitting alone, not eating anything. Something told Maria that something had happened on the mission she had yet to ask him about. The night before when she had had the chance to ask him had been so filled with fire and emotions that she had simply not asked yet. But now, she was sure something was wrong.

She brought a chair with her and sat down next to him by the windows, ignoring the laughing and chatting of the others over by the dining table. In her hands she held a plate with a sandwich on it. She knew that his super soldier serum always made him extra hungry and him not eating anything meant he would get really hungry or tired later on.

"You need to eat, super soldier," she said carefully, smiling softly at him as she offered him the plate.

Her voice had startled him which worried her greatly. He had been deep in thought about something, which was not like him.

"Thanks," he said simply, avoiding eye-contact and taking the plate from her with a smile.

For a while, she waited for him to finish the sandwich. The two simply sat by the window in silence, looking out over the facility and the forest surrounding it. The green grass and the summer sun looked really inviting to Maria all of a sudden and she wondered if she and the girls could maybe arrange a picnic for later on. Maybe as a sort of present to the New Avengers if they did good on the simulations.

When Steve finished his sandwich, he placed the plate on a nearby coffee table. She glanced at him, "What's wrong, Steve? Something's bothering you…"

He sighed, finally glancing at her. She saw the sadness and the hurt in his eyes and she grew worried that maybe she had done something.

"The mission I was on… It was to follow up some leads me and Sam had found on… Bucky. I didn't find him," said Steve. "He had been there… But he was already gone when I got there. As though he knew he had exposed himself and that I was coming. He's running away from me, avoiding me… After so many years of friendship…"

"Steve," breathed Maria, her eyebrows furrowed in sympathy as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "When he's ready to be found, he'll let himself be found… You cannot take this personally."

"I can't help but do," he muttered, leaning into her touch for sympathy and comfort.

"I know," she gently replied, shifting her hand to caress his cheek. "But you shouldn't. And until he wants to be found, you have to keep on trying. He has no way of communicating with you. You don't know when he wants to be found."

"Maybe I should take a break from it. Give him some space."

"Maybe… It's a complicated situation. But I know that he's running from being a monster. That he thinks he is a monster… After what Hydra did, I wouldn't be surprised if he was convinced of that. And I know what it's like to feel like a monster. But I also know that when you go through something like that, none of your actions are aimed to hurt those close to you."

"I had you when I was lost in this world," said Steve, glancing at her lovingly. "He has no one."

She sighed, nodding her head. "He'll have us one day. When he decides to let himself be found."

Steve's eyes filled with gratitude over her words. He gently grabbed her hand turning it over so he could trace the lines in her palm. It tickled, making her smile.

"You barely know him and you're still willing to let him into your life? Just like that?"

"He's your friend," she said softly. "I'm going to stand by your side no matter what you get into or who you are friends with. Besides, he seems like a sweet guy. I want to get to know him."

"Thank you," he smiled, intertwining his fingers with hers before leaning over to her, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.

* * *

 **What did you guys think of the reunion? It's all going really well, isn't it? Hehe, you just wait until things start happening... *evil smile* for real though, I'm super excited about what you guys will think about my plan for Maria and Steve's relationship.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 5**

* * *

Maria, Steve and Natasha were stood behind the glass, looking down on the simulation area where the rest were running around, trying to finish the simulated mission they had been given. With a pained expression, Maria watched as they split up – though not on purpose. Wanda went the wrong way, thinking the flag they were supposed to grab (together) was that way, while the others went the other way. Wanda glanced back but did not ask where they were going, instead moving on her own. Sam did notice and sighed, the shake of his head notifying Maria that these sort of things usually happened on the simulations. As some simulated enemies appeared, Sam and Vision stayed together to take them down while Rhodey flew up in the air and passed them by, making his way towards the end of the area to grab the white flag, triumphantly holding it up in the air as the simulation shut itself off.

Maria and Natasha glanced at each other before Steve pressed a little red button on the control panel in front of them, leaning forwards to speak through the speakers, "Remember, this is not a game. The goal is to grab the flag as a _team._ "

"It's hard to take this seriously when the enemies' fists go right through you," mumbled Rhodey as he put the flag back down.

Maria pinched the bridge of her nose.

"He's not completely wrong," shrugged Natasha. "Maybe we should get them a real mission."

"When they can't even fight together as a team when the mission is fake?" asked Steve.

"Maybe the added pressure of it being real will shape them into a team," offered Maria. "I know that's what happened in Hell's Kitchen with my group."

Steve sighed, glancing back out through the glass overlooking the area. The new recruits were all stood there, staring up at the glass, awaiting further orders.

"Alright then," he said before pressing the red button again. "That's enough for today. Meet you back in the living room in one hour."

* * *

"I mean, compared to what we probably looked like the first time we tried to work together, it went well," said Maria, though the tone in her voice changed it into more of a question than an actual statement.

The new recruits were sitting in the sofas, all watching with idle eyes as the three Avengers stood before them.

"I don't know…" mumbled Steve.

"I agree. The first mission we ever went on ended up with you, Stark and Thor trashing a forest," said Natasha, her hands on her hips. "Give them some slack, Cap. They're new to this."

"Yeah, and some of us do know how to fight as a team from previous military experience," said Sam, gesturing to him and Rhodey. "Once we're out there, it'll go just fine."

Steve glanced over at Maria for reassurance and she gave him some through a half-hearted smile, discreetly shrugging her shoulders.

"I'll think about it," said Steve, turning back to the new recruits. "But I'm not sending you out alone. We'll come with you then."

"Deal," said Sam with a bright smile.

Maria clasped her hands together, "Now that we're done training, I think we should celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" asked Vision.

Maria blushed, "Well… How far you've come as a team, of course."

"You had this planned before you saw us work as a team, hadn't you?" asked Sam with a smirk on his lips.

Maria shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about…"

With the help of Wanda, Vision and Rhodey, Maria carried out everything they would need for the picnic she wanted them all to have. Out on the green grass, close to the forest surrounding the facility, they placed several blankets to sit on and several baskets filled with food of all sorts along with several bottles of wine. Everyone sat in a ring, the baskets of food placed in the middle. The afternoon sun was shining down on them and a summer breeze was softly brushing over them, sending fresh air from the forest their way and invigorating all of them. Laughter was almost all that could be heard from the heroes as they ate the entire afternoon (Steve eating the most) while also enjoying each other's company. Maria showed off some of her powers to those who had not yet seen them, making some of the grapes hover in the air before squashing them with her powers and making them form a beautiful picture of them all sitting out there on the blankets. Everyone laughed as she made the squashed grapes fly into Sam's face, making Sam stand up and chase Maria for a while. It was not until Maria ducked behind Steve for protection that Sam raised his hands, promising her he would stop. A little later on, after he said he needed to go to the restroom, he returned with a bucket of water which he emptied over her as revenge.

Even during the late evening the heroes stayed there, drinking from the wine though now talking rather than laughing. Some were talking about their life, telling the others about difficult times or happy times in their life. Even Steve gave them a little story from before he was Captain America. He told them about his graduation and how he had tripped and fallen down the steps of the podium. Some of the Avengers chuckled slightly at that, though Maria and Sam both saw the memory replay in his eyes, seeing that something else happened as well that he did not tell the others.

"What about you?" asked Rhodey, finishing one of his many tales of bravery as War Machine. His eyes were locked on Maria, the other Avengers also looking over at her. "Surely Mater Mortis has loads of stories to tell?"

"Yeah, who was Maria Dalton before becoming an Avenger?" asked Sam. "And I don't mean who she was according to the files. Tell us something that wasn't written there."

Maria fiddled with the wine glass in her hands. She had told them about what she had been doing the past six months – training and working through her past – though she had not told them about what she had found out about her past. There had been things in her mind, locked away to protect her own sanity, that had been the cause for her losing her powers in the first place. Mainly because her powers were the main thing she had locked away. Those very things, those memories, were the majority of her childhood memories. Seeing as the memories from what she did before being an Avenger were out of the question to talk about, the only thing left to talk about was her short time with her grandparents.

"Well…" she said, feeling compelled to answer as everyone else had been telling stories from their past. "I used to live with my grandparents. It was during that time that I tried to learn how to play the piano."

"You can play the piano?" asked Wanda with a soft smile.

"Yes," smiled Maria before continuing, "But I sucked at it. I used to cry when playing the piano because I just couldn't do it. There was so much going on at once and I couldn't understand it at all… One day, I walked over to my grandparents and told them that I wanted to quit. I mean, I sucked at it and it was stressing the hell out of me. I remember my granny walking over to me, crouching down in front of me and asking me if I wanted to quit because I was bad at it or because I didn't like playing anymore. When I couldn't give her an answer, she walked me over to the piano, sat me down and played duets with me all through the night. I had the time of my life and she made me realize that I loved playing the piano, but that I just didn't feel like I was good at it. So, she sat me down each evening and helped me, taught me… Until I understood enough to continue trying on my own.

"I suppose the moral of that story is that, my granny taught me to never give up. No matter how bad you are at something, you should always keep trying if you love doing it. Had it not been for her… I don't think I would be sitting here with you guys today," said Maria, offering her team, her family, a soft smile.

Wanda placed a hand on Maria's, "That was a beautiful story. She seemed like an amazing grandmother."

"Oh, she was…" said Maria with a nod of her head. "I don't know what would have happened to me had she not been there for me."

The night continued on after Maria's story with Sam and Rhodey telling war stories and Steve comparing them to his own. It was not until the moon had replaced the sun up on the sky and its soft light was shining down on them that most of the heroes decided to go to bed, leaving Steve, Sam and Maria on their own.

"You know, things weren't like this before you came back," said Steve. "We weren't as much of a family then."

The three were lying on their backs, looking up at the star-filled sky above them. With a soft smile on her lips, Maria turned her head to look at Steve. Their faces were inches apart as they looked at each other. Maria was brought back to the time when Steve and she had visited Central Park, staying until the night had fallen over them. They had almost kissed for the first time there, when someone had attacked them. Though it was not that part which Maria remembered as she lay there. It was the part where his eyes shone like blue crystals and the way his skin looked slightly pale against in the moonlight. A soft flutter in her stomach caused her smile to widen, her eyes flickering to his lips every now and then.

"Guys!"

Sam interrupted the moment by forcefully slapping his hand down on Maria's stomach, causing her to jump. He was pointing upwards, his eyes slightly dazed from the amount of wine he and Rhodey had consumed together after taking on a bet.

"A shooting star!" he exclaimed, removing his hand from her stomach as he noticed he had gained their attention.

Sam was lying to her right, while Steve was to her left. The three of them looked up at the stars, indeed seeing the last few seconds of the flashing streak of a meteor touching the atmosphere. It was the first time Maria had seen a falling star and she smiled.

"Beautiful," she whispered.

"What did you wish for?" asked Sam, his words slurring together slightly.

"Nothing," she replied.

"Boring…"

Maria chuckled, "'Cause I have everything I need right here."

She grabbed Steve's hand with her left hand and Sam's hand with her right hand, "My family."

"You are so cheesy," said Sam, earning a chuckle from Steve.

"What did you wish for then, Sam?" asked Steve.

"More wine."

The three of them laughed at his wish, Maria and Sam letting go of each other while Maria and Steve kept their fingers intertwined. His thumb was gently tracing circles on the top of her hand, sending shivers up through her arm and down towards the rest of her body. There was something about the strong grip he had on her hand, the strong grip he could not help as he was a super soldier, mixed with the soft and tender gesture that simply made her sigh out of love.

" _When you wish upon a star_ ," albeit Sam did not have a bad singing voice, Maria could not hold in her laughter. Perhaps it was the fact that the words were slightly slurred because of his intoxication, or the fact that he was trying really hard to mimic Louis Armstrong, " _Makes no difference who you are! Anything your heart desires, will come to youyes_ …"

"I don't get it," said Steve, a confused look on his face that simply got even more laughter from Maria.

"Disney, man!" exclaimed Sam.

"Oh…" nodded Steve.

"You know, Pinocchio, right?" asked Sam.

"No. I haven't watched any Disney movies before."

Maria and Sam shared a shocked look before exclaiming at the same time, "We're having a movie night tomorrow!"

Steve chuckled along with Sam and Maria's laughter before shaking his head at their antics.

"Okay, I gotta go to bed," said Sam, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, letting out one last laugh.

"Night," said Maria.

"Goodnight, Sam," said Steve.

Sam stood up, wobbling slightly on the spot before beginning to make his way back to the facility, losing his balance from time to time while still singing the Disney song.

"I'm never going to let him forget this," said Maria, shaking her head before continuing to look up at the sky.

"You know, I do agree with you," said Steve after a little while.

"With what?"

"I don't need to wish for anything," he said, his hand gently squeezing hers before he propped himself up on one elbow, looking down at her while still holding onto her hand. His eyes looked down at their intertwined fingers and she could see a hint of shyness in them. Even after all those years, even after having shared a bed, he was still shy around her. Her heart ached at that thought, wanting him to feel comfortable around her while she, at the same time, found it incredibly sweet that he was shy around her. It sort of gave her a boost of confidence. "I've got everything I need right here."

He finally looked into her eyes again, the moonlight twinkling in them. As he brought up his hand to his lips to place a soft kiss to her knuckles, she wished intently that it was her lips he was kissing, and not her hand. They were alone in the dark and slightly chilly night, the heat of their bodies intertwining being the one thing that kept them from shivering from the cold. His eyes had burned into hers when he had pressed his lips against her knuckles, watching for the reaction he goddamn knew he was going to get as he stirred something in the pit of her stomach. The void inside of her closed in on itself, warming her up and causing her to breathe out slowly. Her arm was pressed up against his chest as he kissed her hand and she could feel his muscles through the plaid shirt he was wearing, those muscles she had once been able to touch whenever she pleased.

Though his voice cut in through the tension and made her come back from her heated sensation, "These stars are not the same, you know."

Maria furrowed her brow, "Steve, they are. The stars don't change like that. Well, maybe they're older now… But they're still stars and they're still in the same place."

"Hmm…" he hummed, his eyes smiling at her. "No, they're not the same. They're ten times brighter then what they were back in the fifties."

Maria offered him a slightly distrustful look to which he chuckled, "You know why?"

"No," she replied honestly.

Letting go of her hand, which nearly caused her to pout as she missed the warmth his hand brought her, he placed his hand on her cheek, making sure she was looking at him while his thumb traced the outlines of her cheekbone.

"With you in my life… Everything is ten times brighter and ten times better. Whether it's the stars and the way they shine, or the sun and the way it warms… It's all better."

"Stop it…" breathed Maria, gently shaking her head. "That's physically impossible."

"Maybe," hummed Steve, not missing a beat to move in closer to her. Ever since she had expressed to him that she wanted to help Bucky as much as he did, he had felt a rush of want and need for her. Whether it was because he wanted to show her gratitude or because he wanted them to get back to where they used to be faster, he did not know. Though he knew that he could wait no longer to be close to her. "But love is not something physics can measure."

The way her lips parted as he did something that took her by storm always roused something in the pit of his stomach. And as he uttered the word 'love' in her presence once again, her lips did that very thing again. He could barely hold himself from pressing his lips to hers and he knew that she felt the same the way her eyes kept flickering down to his mouth. Her hand came to rest on his shoulder, gently tugging him down to her until their noses touched. The moonlight twinkled in her green eyes… There was too much beauty in front of him to ignore.

Gently, he pressed his lips to hers. It was nothing like their first kiss at all, nor any other kiss after that. Their lips felt familiar against each other and they both felt, right there and then, just how long they had waited to finally kiss the other again. As if it was an automatic reaction to the feeling of the others' lips against their own, both heroes shifted so they were fully pressed against the other.

However, their promise to the other ran through their minds and so, they ended the kiss, staying fully pressed against each other. Steve's breathing was erratic, his eyes still closed as he pressed his forehead against hers. Maria could see and feel what he was fighting against. She herself was fighting against the same thing. That urge… That want…

"We promised to take it slow," she whispered, one hand caressing his cheek. "We promised to be gentlemen…"

Her little joke was taken as a serious statement by Steve and his eyes popped up. He seemed to search her eyes for something, a sign to tell him that he could, for once, let go of his own morals and simply play along with his inner desires. It could work, they clearly wanted to move faster than they had agreed on, but was it the right choice? Would it be strange if they slipped one time and then continued going slowly the next day? They had promised to take it slow… though their need…

Steve let out a grunt as he moved away from her, laying himself back down on his back. He was a gentleman and they had made a promise to move slowly and work their way back to where they were before. Maria smiled at his pained face, gently shifting so she was lying next to him with her head on his shoulder, her fingertips tracing circles on the fabric covering his toned chest.

"Nothing will ever make me fall out of love with you," she whispered, "you're too goddamn perfect."

"I highly doubt that," he said, gently lifting her face up to his by gently placing a finger underneath of her chin. "The most perfect creature alive is right next to me."


	6. Chapter 6

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 6**

* * *

"Did you sleep outside or something?" asked Natasha, pulling a few pieces of grass out of Maria's hair.

Blushing, Maria smoothed down her hair, avoiding eye-contact with Steve. She knew Natasha noticed her reaction and she knew that Steve was reacting the same, telling Natasha exactly what she needed to know. She heard Nat chuckle softly, letting the grass fall down to the floor of the living room before Steve cleared his throat, changing the subject quickly.

He slid a PAD over to the two of them, showing a picture of Rumlow – former SHIELD agent secretly working for Hydra under Fury's nose. Both women looked at him expectantly, wondering where he wanted to go with this.

"The new mission for the New Avengers," explained Steve. "They wanted to train out in the field – what better way to start things off then with the man who has a vendetta against us superheroes?"

The living room was still empty of the others, seeing as it was early in the morning and the sun had barely begun to rise yet. Both Maria and Steve had been slightly surprised to see Natasha already up and about – though it was not too surprising seeing as Natasha was very dedicated to her work. Now, the three of them were sitting around the kitchen table, trying to work out a plan for the New Avengers to train their team-work.

"I didn't know he'd survived," said Maria quietly.

"He did, barely," explained Steve, showing some pictures to the two women while he continued talking about Brock Rumlow. "A while after things had settled down again in Washington DC, Rumlow woke up in the hospital bed. Upon hearing the news of Hydra's failure, he attacked his nurse and ran off. Ever since then, he's been trying to find ways to avenge himself and the damage that was done to him. So far, he's managed to attack several police stations here in America. Unfortunately, he's begun to terrorize the rest of the world as well."

"My God," breathed Maria as he saw a particular picture on the PAD. "Did he do this?"

"Unfortunately, yes…

 **Six months later**

"He managed to infiltrate a former SHIELD laboratory and steal multiple tools. When he then tried to sell them on the Black Market, he managed to get in contact with what was left of Hydra. Though it was all just to lure them out so he could kill them all," explained Steve.

The three Avengers were stood in front of the New Avengers – all but Rhodey who was currently working on something with Tony, apparently something important Tony had been working on for a while now – showing to them the pictures Steve had been showing to Maria and Natasha the year before. Outside of the room they were in, spring had just begun. The grass once more turned green while tiny spring-flowers popped out of the ground. The past six months had been intense on all the Avengers as they had been training harder than ever in order to become stronger and better. They had been going on smaller missions together to train while Steve, Maria and Natasha tracked down Rumlow in secret.

A new lead on Rumlow, or Crossbones as he enjoyed calling himself, had appeared and Steve had decided to let the New Avengers in on the mission they had been training for. The picture shown to the New Avengers was a picture of several dead bodies lying unmoving in an alley. It still made Maria look away, even though she herself had done much worse things than that.

"Now, we believe he's trying to lure us out," informed Steve, switching to the next picture which was a simple picture taken from a security camera, showing Rumlow in his new uniform. "And he's going to succeed, though not without losing the fight."

"Where is he?" asked Sam.

"Lagos, Nigeria," said Maria. "We're going there in about an hour."

"But first, you need to be prepared for what's to come," added Natasha, handing out leaflets to the New Avengers; reports on what Rumlow and his men can do.

"As far as we know," began Steve, crossing his arms over his chest as he briefed the team, "He's a world-class hand-to-hand combatant with experience in various sorts of street fighting, in martial arts and in military combat techniques. He's fuelled by anger, which makes him unpredictable and dangerous. Meaning, he can't know we're after him until we know for sure what his plan is."

"What is our theory so far? What's he up to?" asked Wanda, looking up at the three Avengers before her.

"Seeing as he's been targeting police stations lately, we believe he's going to target Largos' police station. Though, we're not sure," said Natasha.

"Also," added Maria. "His injuries have left him almost immune to pain, which means he won't stagger or react to punches the way you're used to. Remember that."

The New Avengers nodded their heads.

"We need to go in stealthily," said Steve before he looked over at Vision. "Which means we can't bring you along, Vision."

"That's alright," said Vision with a nod of his head. "I'm not exactly stealthy, after all."

Maria smiled an apologetical smile at him before nodding her head, "Get ready. We leave in an hour."

The Avengers all left, except for Vision, Maria and Steve.

"What will you do once you capture Rumlow?" asked Vision.

"Hopefully, we'll place him in prison, with my father," said Maria before mumbling, "Where he belongs."

"And if you can't capture him?" asked Vision.

Maria tensed up, looking over at Steve who stayed calm at the question, "So long as the people of Largos are safe, we'll have to do whatever we have to do."

Vision simply bowed his head in recognition of the meaning behind Steve's words, though Maria could easily see that Vision was not all too happy about the answer. As he left, Maria turned back to Steve who was fumbling with the cables attached with the PAD. She walked over to him and gently placed a hand over his, making him stop fumble. Gently, she helped him remove the cable, all the while staring intently up into Steve's eyes.

"The briefing went well," she complimented, her hand still hovering over his. "I noticed you're used to doing them."

"They were all part of my duties back in my time," said Steve, earning a frown from Maria.

He sighed, placing two fingers underneath of her chin, "Don't frown… You look cute, but it always means you feel bad about something."

"Steve," she said, gently leaning against his two fingers while brushing a hand over his arm all the way up to his shoulder. "This is your time too. You belong here now. With us. With me."

Over the past six months, their relationship had grown back to what it used to be before the engagement. Only a month ago, Steve and Maria had moved in together. Of course, that only meant that they had _one_ room together, so the move was not all that drastic for Maria as she had simply had to move to the room next doors. But it was a symbol for how far they had gotten in their relationship. It was a symbol for the fact that they were finally back where they left off.

It had made Maria very happy to have Steve back and she was intent on never letting him go again. Although that feeling was rather scary to her. After all, she had always been loyal and protective of Steve, but she was afraid that her feelings to him could make her become too loyal and too protective this time. She could already feel that her feelings were even more intense than they were earlier, and somehow she could see that in Steve's eyes as well. She was afraid that she would follow him no matter where even if it meant her own death, and that her protectiveness might lead to nasty feelings such as jealousy. Though her being aware of this danger always made her think she would be able to be strong when such a situation arose. At least, she hoped she would be strong enough to always make her own decision and not just base them on what Steve's decision was.

"I know," said Steve, making her come back around to reality. "But I can't help but think about the past as my time. It was back then that I had been the real me. Not the muscular me you see now. It was back then that I had once had parents, my best friend… my alma mater. Everything. It's just-"

"Home," she finished for him, his blue eyes immediately beginning to search hers for something. "I know how it feels. This is home to me. This here is my family, you and the others. When I was over at Xavier's school about a year ago or so, gosh it feels like yesterday – I was with my own people. I was with those who understood every single fibre of me. And although it was home for me then and although I felt almost as good as I do when I'm standing next to you, it just wasn't home. So, yes, I understand."

Steve moved his hand from underneath her chin to her cheek, gently caressing her cheekbone.

"Once you would have said that Hell's Kitchen is your home. That Matt-"

"Don't talk about him," she said, looking away from Steve.

"You can't keep a grudge against him… He's your friend. He did so much for you," said Steve before sighing as she kept looking away from him. "At least end your relationship on a good note."

"Logan said I should just let him be," mumbled Maria, finally looking back up into Steve's eyes again where he could see the pain and confusion she felt over the situation. "Though he used some more, uh, rough words. But Matt… All he did was have feelings for me. But it just feels weird. I don't love him."

"Makes me happy to hear that," said Steve with a soft grin.

Maria rolled her eyes playfully at him before shaking her head, Steve's hand moving to her shoulder. "I'll think about it."

"Good," said Steve with a nod. "Now, let's go get ready."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

 **Sorry to have been gone for so long! Life was so hectic and I couldn't find the time to write. Hopefully things will have calmed down now so I can write again.**

 **Hope you all like this chapter. The plot of the movie is beginning now. I'll be adding one extra plot involving Steve and Maria which I'm pretty excited about telling you guys. :D it's gonna flow really well and give meaning to some other things in future movies that I've assumed are gonna be in infinity war.**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 7**

* * *

"Alright, what do you see?" asked Steve, pressing his finger against his earpiece.

He, Maria and Sam were stood inside the bedroom of some poor civilian who was not at home at the moment. Maria had easily gotten them inside, which earned her a curious look from Sam even though he knew of her past. From the window of this bedroom, they could overlook the plaza where they had calculated Rumlow would attack. After all, the police station was positioned there. While Steve and Maria stayed in the bedroom, Sam had gone up to the roof to have a better view with his own suit.

The three Avengers were all suited up, while the others were not. If they had been, they would not have been able to sit down at the plaza amongst the other civilians, pretending that they were not who they were. In a way, Maria felt bad about having left Vision at home as he could have joined her, Sam and Steve after all, though this plan had not been their original plan to begin with. At first, they had wanted to stealthily keep out of the way of any civilians, but Steve was not a hundred percent sure about what Rumlow wanted anymore…

 _Steve entered the helicarrier with Maria in tow. The others were already there, sitting at their designated seats. Their heads turned when Maria and Steve entered, some smiling at them in a greeting and some bowing their heads in a formal way. Maria and Steve sat down at the front, joining Natasha at the helm-controls._

 _Each Avenger was wearing their own suit, Sam tinkering with some of the controls he had strapped to his wrist and Wanda fidgeting with one of the arm-straps she had gotten from Maria. When they had been training in combat together a few days ago, Maria had accidentally sliced open Wanda's wrist when she tried to block one of Maria's attacks. Luckily, she had not been using the sword that was now strapped to her waist and Wanda had simply gotten a cut, had she used her own sword things would have turned out differently. But it did make Maria realize that Wanda was unprotected from knives of any sorts coming her way in hand-to-hand combat, and so she bought Wanda two leather strips the same colour as her suit to match her outfit, so she could block those attacks if the need came._

 _Sam on the other hand had gotten a new toy from Stark and Rhodey. He called it Redwing and it was basically a little, flying robot which he could steer and shoot bad-guys with, amongst other things. During previous missions, Redwing had been very helpful and so, it had quickly become Sam's favourite toy. However, the controls were still a bit tricky for Sam to work with and so he was trying out some new modifications he had made on his own. The last time the controls had not really worked out for him, Redwing had bumped Steve's head on accident during a mission. It had looked rather funny, though it obviously wasn't what was supposed to happen._

 _"Wanda-" began Steve, causing said hero to look over at Steve, "new intel has gotten through. You won't need to fidget with your outfit."_

 _"Why?" asked Wanda, everyone's attention now on the conversation at hand._

 _Maria butted in, "You're gonna have to pretend to be civvies. You and Nat."_

 _Natasha nodded her head, glancing back at the bag she had by her feet – most likely she had some normal clothes in there seeing as she was always prepared for everything._

 _"I thought going in stealthily meant not being seen?" asked Wanda._

 _"Normally, yes, but we've changed the plan," said Maria, glancing over at Steve who put on his seatbelt, his shield resting against his knee. "Intel just came through that someone might've paid Rumlow this time around. Which means he's not going for his ordinary target."_

 _"Ready for take-off…"_

"Standard beat cops," replied Wanda through the coms. Maria's eyes found Wanda sitting at a café placed on the plaza, Nat was not too far away from her. "Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target."

"There's an ATM on the south corner, which means…?" said Steve, continuing to peek through the curtains of the bedroom.

"Cameras," concluded Wanda through the coms, earning a soft smile from Maria.

 _She's learning,_ she thought to herself.

"Both cross streets are one-way," continued Steve.

"So, compromised escape routes," added Wanda.

"Means our guy doesn't care about being seen. He isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out," said Steve, glancing at Maria stood next to him, waiting for his orders. "You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?"

"Yeah, the red one? It's cute," joked Wanda.

"It's also bulletproof, which means private security... which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us," added Natasha through the coms.

"You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?" asked Wanda slightly sarcastic and slightly cocky, to which Maria frowned.

"Someday you might find yourself without those capabilities, and you will have to-" began Maria though was cut off by Wanda's sigh.

"Survive without them, yes," Wanda finished for her.

"Also, looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature," added Natasha, while Maria stared down at Wanda. The cockiness she just heard might just endanger the mission.

"Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?" said Sam from up on the roof, as usual being the one to remove any sort of tension between the Avengers.

A soft smile played on Steve and Maria's lips.

"Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?" asked Natasha jokingly.

"Eyes on target, folks. This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him," trying to fight away the soft smile on his lips as he continued to focus on the mission at hand.

"If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem. He kind of hates us," said Sam over the coms.

Maria squinted her eyes, noticing something down on the street. A garbage truck was rummaging through traffic, people shouting at the truck and showing openly that this was not something that garbage trucks usually did. Lulling her head to the side, suspicion rising in her stomach, she pointed at it so Steve noticed it too and he narrowed his eyes, "Sam... see that garbage truck? Tag it."

 _"This… is… awesome," said Sam, his eyes wide and a happy smile on his face. "I can track things and_ scan _them?"_

 _"Yeah, and more. It's basically a mini you but in robotic form and sorta controlled by you," said Tony, waving his hand around nonchalantly as he spoke. "Not to mention it can do more than you can. It's got x-ray vision-"_

 _"Hold up," said Sam, grabbing the small robot and holding it up in front of him, Steve and Maria watching with smiles on their faces as Sam's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas Day. "X-ray vision?"_

 _"Yeah and-"_

 _"That's so cool!" exclaimed Sam before letting out a laugh. "I can spy on other people now."_

 _"Okay, that's not what it's for," said Maria, taking a step forwards and grabbing the robot from Sam. "It's meant for missions, nothing else. Don't get any funny ideas."_

 _"I can get the remote without getting up from the sofa…" mumbled Sam, beginning to list off all the things he could do with his new toy, earning a roll of Maria's eyes as he was clearly ignoring everyone talking some sense to him on purpose._

 _He was way too happy with his new toy._

"Give me X-ray," they heard Sam say to Redwing, which Maria figured was the new way of controlling Redwing that Sam had installed. "Yeah, that truck's loaded for max weight. And the driver's armed."

Steve glanced over at the end of the road, to where the garbage truck was moving, his eyes widened as he began to step away from the window, causing Maria to frown as she had not managed to see it yet.

"It's a battering ram," concluded Natasha before Steve could say anything, causing Maria to widen her eyes.

"Go now," ordered Steve, almost immediately seeing Sam flying past the window.

"What?" asked Wanda.

"He's not hitting the police," explained Steve, quickly turning around and leaving the window, Maria in tow.

"What's over there?" asked Maria, following Steve out of the apartment and down the stairs, the two sprinting as fast as they could.

"The Institute for Infectious Diseases," explained Steve. "He's not targeting police forces anymore. He's going to do something much worse to whoever he hates."

"Oh God…" breathed Maria as she realized the seriousness of the situation.

As she and Steve ran down the street towards the institute, a gush of relief flooded over her. Had they not been tracking Rumlow, he might have gotten whatever he wanted from that institute and he could have done a lot of damage. Now, they were there to stop him. All they had to do was actually manage to stop him, which Maria did not doubt they could.

At the end of the street, they could see the garbage truck speeding up. The driver jumped out of the truck before it smashed into the enclosure's gate, flipping over and making a lot of mess and a lot of noise. Other trucks and cars suddenly appeared, coming to a quick halt in front of the broken garbage truck. Men exited those vehicles and entered the facility through the broken gate. Both Maria and Steve sped up, even though Steve was already way in front of her due to him being much faster.

Two hands gripped a hold of her upper arms suddenly, lifting her up from the ground and speeding her off towards the facility. She did not have to look up to realize it was Sam who had picked her up, as she saw the shadow of two large wings rushing over the street underneath of her.

She unsheathed her sword while Sam let go of her, flying back to get Steve as well. She went into battle-stance the moment she landed on her two feet. Rumlow's men were wearing black armour and gasmasks, each and every one of them carrying a gun of some sorts. Using her abilities to block the bullets, she ran up to a group of soldiers and attacked. In her peripheral vision she could see another group going into the facility, though luckily Steve landed close-by them, causing some to turn around instead of entering the facility.

All Maria really had to do to get rid of the men she was fighting was lightly tap them with her sword, making it easy for her to jump around and make each of them collapse. One of them had a hefty reaction to her sword, flying backwards the way Logan had done almost a year ago. Why he did that and the others didn't, she didn't know. All she knew was that she felt bad for the guy who would wake up with the worst headache of all time, not to mention that the part of his body that had touched the sword would have severe burn-wounds and some fractured bones. As the guys around her were down, she quickly checked all of their pulses, feeling slightly relived that only two seemed to be in critical condition.

"Body armour, AR-15s," informed Steve through the coms, making Maria turn to look at where he had landed, seeing him ontop of a vehicle with a couple of unconscious men around him. "I make seven hostiles left."

Sam landed on a roof near-by, some gunshots being heard before the coms crackled with Sam's voice, "I make five."

Maria turned around as she heard someone landing close-by. Wanda had landed and she easily stopped a guy coming towards her with her abilities, before she lifted him into the air. "Sam," she said as she moved him towards where Sam had been. In the process, Sam jumped off the roof he had landed on and knocked the guy out on his way towards the ground, landing close to Maria.

"Four," informed Sam, winking at Maria before the three of them walked over to Steve.

"Rumlow's on the third floor," informed Sam as Steve joined them on the ground, most likely having used his x-ray vision on the building in front of him.

"Wanda, just like we practised," said Steve, holding his shield up in front of him as he looked up at the third floor window.

"What about the gas?" asked Maria, a soft tone of worry in her voice

"Get it out," said Steve simply to Wanda before a red mist appeared around his boots, sending him up towards the window he had been looking at.

With his shield in front of him, shielding him from the shattered glass, he smashed through the window and landed inside. Immediately, Wanda began to move the mist out of the building and with amazed eyes, Maria watched as the green poison moved up towards the sky. She wondered briefly if she ever would be able to move things that were not so dense as mist with her own powers… Mist and liquids were things she barely could move. Her powers weren't that powerful after all. It was more of a way for her to have a shield from, for example, bullets.

Bullets; which were now being shot at her, Sam and Wanda. The two of them used their abilities to dodge the bullets and do their best to shield Wanda while she used her powers to get the mist out of the building. Sam shot at the guys attacking them while at the same time using his wings to shield himself and Wanda, while Maria moved the bullets away from her and Wanda so that they shot right into the concrete walls of the building. The void inside of her tensed up as she used her powers and a warmth spread through her body, a warmth which was making her out of breath and sweaty. The fact that her suit was made out of black leather and the sun was shining intensely down at them did not make things easier on her.

When Sam's gun was not enough, he turned around and ordered two smaller missiles to land where the guys were all crouched behind some cover. The missiles quickly took the guys out and the bullets stopped coming. Maria narrowed her eyes slightly at the cruel fact that those men probably had not made it, though she tried to focus on something else but that.

"Rumlow has a biological weapon," informed Steve through the coms after a little while.

"I'm on it," replied Natasha.

Sam, Wanda and Maria looked around at their surroundings, not seeing any thugs nor a single trace of Natasha and Steve. Silently, they asked each other where they were until they heard an explosion from the other side of the building. The three nodded their heads at each other before beginning to jog around the building, Maria clenching her sword in her hands tightly.

A second explosion was heard shortly after, almost immediately followed by Steve's voice through the com, "Sam. He's in an AFV heading north."

Without second thought, Sam jumped up and flew away from the two women running besides him, disappearing up into the air. Wanda and Maria shared a glance, having heard the pain in Steve's voice.

They found Steve staggering away from the building, gripping his ribs. Maria quickly placed two hands on his arm, stopping him from moving as she looked him over, worry in her eyes. He sighed, shaking his head at her, "I'm fine. It'll heal."

"Steve, you've probably cracked some ribs," said Maria, gently pressing against his side and earning a hiss of pain from Steve, which confirmed her theory.

"You should let us continue on our own," said Wanda as she watched the two.

"I'm good," persisted Steve, straightening up with a serious look on his face before repeating, "I'm good," as if to persuade himself as well.

"Steve," warned Maria, firmly placing her fingers on his chin and forcing him to look at her. His serious look melted into a soft one, a hint of amusement evident in his eyes at the concern in her eyes. She narrowed her eyes at him in return to his amusement before sighing, "Don't be foolish."

"I'm not," replied Steve, grabbing her hand in his gloved one, gently pressing his lips against her knuckles.

"Guys, we should help the others," urged Wanda.

"I've got four, they're splitting up," said Sam over the coms, causing Steve and Maria to break apart and begin to jog towards the small market that existed North of the science building.

"I got the two on the left," informed Natasha over the com, Sam most likely taking the other two out.

"I'll go with Nat," said Steve. "You two help Sam."

The three split up, Maria placing her sword back into its holster as she saw how thick of a crowd there was on the market. Having to push through so many people would most likely make her sword touch one of them, something she was keen on not doing as that would mean she'd hurt a civilian.

"They ditched their gear. It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload," informed Steve over the coms, causing Wanda and Maria to glance at each other as they continued to push through the crowd to find Sam and aid him in whatever way they could.

"He doesn't have it. I'm empty!" said Sam's voice through the com, causing the two women to stop.

"Nat, we're coming to help you," said Maria as she pressed on the communicator in her ear.

"I'm sending Redwing," informed Sam, the two women still continuing to run through the crowd.

A minute passed; Maria was beginning to feel a bit impatient, not feeling as though she was contributing a lot to the mission at hand anymore. Then, suddenly, Nat's voice was heard over the com at the same time as the screams of civilians was heard from somewhere else. Somewhere Natasha was not at.

"Payload secure. Thanks, Sam."

"Don't thank me," said Sam's voice over the coms while Maria and Wanda quickly made their way through the crowd towards the screaming civilians.

"I'm not thanking that thing," retorted Natasha with a bitter voice, causing Wanda to smile.

"His name is Redwing."

"I'm still not thanking it."

"He's cute! Go ahead, pet him."

Maria and Wanda came to a halt as they saw Rumlow and Steve go at it. Well, they had been going at it. Now, Steve had the upper hand, holding onto a tired looking Rumlow who was kneeling in front of him. His face did not look the same as when Maria had known him. The third degree burns had scared him for life, though is hair still somehow looked rather good, all things considered. They were talking quietly and Maria barely could heard them. Until the name was said…. That one name Maria knew was Steve's current weakness. Somehow, even Rumlow knew this.

"Your pal, your buddy, your _Bucky_ ," mumbled Rumlow.

"What did you say?" asked Steve, his eyes growing wide.

"He remembered you. I was there. He got all weepy about it. Till they put his brain back in a blender," said Rumlow, letting out a cruel, short chuckle before growing serious again. "He wanted you to know something. He said to me... 'Please tell Rogers. When you gotta go..."

Wanda tensed up as Rumlow lifted his hand and Maria saw it immediately. He had grabbed something from his pocket.

"'you gotta go.' And you're coming with me."

Without a second thought, the void inside of her burned up in a heated moment worth of passion and fear for Steve's life. As Rumlow pressed the trigger to the bomb-vest he suddenly showed Steve he was wearing, the explosion only stayed around him. Wanda glanced at Maria with wide eyes before quickly raising her own hands as she saw Maria's pained expression. As Wanda's red mist took over, Maria fell to her knees in the sand. Her head was pounding with pain and a drop of blood was slowly seeping out of her nose.

She watched as Steve staggered away from Rumlow, watching with slightly confused eyes as the explosion lifted from the ground. He glanced over at Wanda and Maria, his eyes widening slightly at Maria's pained expression, before he looked back up.

However, not everything went according to plan.

Halfway up towards the sky, Wanda let out a gurgle of pain herself and before she had realized it, her powers had let go of the explosion, making it explode halfway up one of the taller buildings in the city. The explosion went through the entire floor, shattering the glass windows through which black smoke was coughed up.

"Oh, my..." whimpered Wanda, placing a hand over her mouth as tears appeared in her eyes.

The three heroes looked up, the civilians around them already having scattered away. A sadness fell over the heroes, pushing down on their shoulders as each and every one of them took on the blame for what happened in various ways. Maria stood up, trying to place a comforting hand on Wanda's shoulder, though she pushed it off.

"Sam… we need Fire and Rescue on the south side of the building," said Steve as he pressed a finger to his ear. He glanced back at the two women behind him with a saddened look in his eyes.

There had been people up there who were now burning and crying out in pain. There had been mothers there now wishing they could be with their children instead. There had been fathers there now wishing the same thing. There had been daughters and sons up there who never got to say how much the appreciated their parents. There had been _people_ there who now were gone or who now maybe would never be able to live a normal life ever again.

And it was their fault it had all happened.


	8. Chapter 8

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 8**

* * *

Vision and Rhodes both came out to meet them as the jet landed back at the Avengers HQ. Steve and Maria exited first, grim looks on their faces, with Natasha behind them. The three heroes stopped in front of the two others, while Wanda simply walked past them. Maria could not help but notice the way Vision parted his lips to say something to Wanda, though before he could she had already passed him by without even looking up at him. The emotions in Wanda's eyes had been long since drained, though in the beginning of the trip back home, the emotions had been very visible and Maria knew she was feeling just as badly still.

Ever since the incident, she had been quiet. Too quiet in Maria's opinion. Both Natasha and Maria had tried to talk to her but failed horribly as Wanda had simply turned her head and ignored them. It hurt to say the least, to see her like that, though no one knew what to do. Perhaps the best thing to do right then and there, was to let her be until she herself was ready to talk. Pushing people into talking would sometimes only make them angry with you, which was not what either Maria or Natasha wanted. Then again, Maria was afraid that not making her talk would make her feel worse and asthough no one cared. Maria knew all too well the effects loneliness could have, and she also knew that the voices that came with the loneliness, were cruel and heartless.

"What happened?" asked Rhodey as Wanda had disappeared out of hearing range. "We just saw the news…"

"I didn't see the vest… I should've seen the vest," said Steve grimly. "Rumlow had the advantage. But he won't have that ever again."

"Most certainly not," said Sam as he joined the five heroes. "He's nothing but dust now."

"Well, that was our first mission," said Rhodey, a hint of sarcasm and anger in his voice. "I couldn't join, and the mission failed."

"Hey," defended Sam, "this might have been our first mission as a team, sorta, but it's not our last. And yeah, things went badly, but things went badly in the army too, remember? We gotta look at the bigger picture here. Rumlow ain't gonna do no harm to anyone no more. That's what's important."

"But those who didn't make it-" began Vision.

"Will be honored and remembered," cut Sam in. "I know I'll never forget them."

With that said, Sam walked away, taking off his red-glasses and bowing his head. Whether this meant that Sam had taken this mission as difficult as Wanda, Maria was not quite sure, but she was sure that Sam was not completely okay, just like the rest of the team. And she also knew that, as part of the original Avengers, it was part of her duty to care for the others. Which meant that Sam was on her list of people she needed to talk to, right underneath of Wanda.

"Bad things happen," agreed Steve. "But we gotta move on and focus on whoever is next to save."

"Did things go alright with Tony?" asked Maria.

"Sorta," said Rhodey, shaking his head. "He's…complicated."

"What was he working on?" asked Maria.

"Therapy," was the only answer Rhodey gave before he turned and left as well.

Maria and Steve exchanged a look after Rhodey's answer before beginning to walk back inside themselves too, Vision and Natasha following them.

 _"We gotta get inside!"_

Smoke, ashes and screams was all Maria remembered from when the Avengers moved into the tower to help the civilians. Even then, Wanda had stayed outside.

 _"Oh, God… Steve! I need help in here!"_

It had been an office and so there had not been any children in there, but there had been daughters, sons, mothers and fathers – and not everyone had made it out.

When the medics came along with other services, the Avengers had made their leave. They could feel that they were not very welcome there at the moment, and seeing as none of them was really educated in paramedical abilities, they decided to stay out of the way once help had arrived. Though Maria could not help but once again feel bad about her own powers. She herself could heal, yet she could heal no others? It made no sense to her why her powers were so selfish as she would want to have helped others. There were people there with injuries that she herself could have survived from, but that she doubted they would. It hurt to see.

That guilt was part of the reason for why Maria could not sleep that night. She lay next to Steve, their backs turned towards each other, with her eyes wide open. Flashes of images ran through her head of what had happened that day, of those hurt and of the fear she had felt at nearly losing Steve. Not only that, but it also scared her how powerful her powers could get when she was so afraid. What if she somehow could lose control of her powers? What if she somehow could become a weapon others could use against those she loved or the world?

She doubted it though. Lifting a finger, she pointed it at her phone next to her bed. With effort, she managed to lift it up into the air before lowering it back down again. On her bedside-table stood a glass of water as well, and she diverted her finger over to the liquid, though only managed to lift the glass itself and not the liquid as she had wanted. How could her powers have hold back that explosion for as long as it did? It felt impossible to her now that she was once again thinking rationally. Perhaps she was indeed capable of more, but how was she supposed to unlock those abilities? If it took her some significant effort to lift a _phone_ , how was she supposed to lift something bigger? Or something that wasn't so dense?

"One word…"

His gruff voice startled her slightly, though she composed herself quickly as she realized that it was only Steve lying next to her.

"That was all it took to make me lose my focus."

Maria turned around, facing Steve as he too shifted around in the bed. Though he stayed on his back, staring up at the ceiling above them. Due to her time training and working in the shadows – after all, an assassin wasn't supposed to be seen if he or she was a good assassin – she could easily see in the dark just as well as Steve or Bucky could, and it was due to that ability that Maria saw just how emotionally distressed Steve was.

"Hey," she mumbled quietly, bringing her hand up to his chest and gently rubbing circles to try and sooth him, "don't beat yourself up about it. It's not your fault."

"But it is, isn't it?" asked Steve with the same gruff voice, turning his head to look at her before he continued to explain. "Rumlow had been wearing that vest from the very beginning. It was obvious and I knew there was more to the vest than what I could see. And I was keeping an eye on it. But then he started speaking about Bucky."

"I heard," she whispered quietly, looking into his eyes. In the darkness, they almost looked black, though she could still see the hint of blue that were his eyes. "He means a lot to you. It's obvious you would react like that, you're human after all."

"I'm supposed to stay professional. But I can't when it comes to Bucky… or you."

"Ouch," joked Maria, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks.

"I mean it," said Steve as he went to grab her hand, intertwining their fingers together. "It's difficult."

"I know. Truly, I know. I mean, I've got you by my side now but I know that, when push comes to show, there are things out there that I would do to get you either back, or to keep you safe. And those things are not pretty things. I'm just glad no one out there has figured it out yet." Maria's gaze fixed on the wall opposite of the room, staring out over Steve's chest whom she, in her peripheral vision, could see move up and down slowly as he breathed. "That's not very professional either."

Steve gently placed a finger underneath of her chin, moving her face so she was looking up at Steve instead of the wall. He gently smiled down at her to which she smiled back, shifting so she was lying right next to him instead of a little way away from him. She moved her arm so she was slightly hugging him, simply resting her arm over his chest, while Steve moved so his arm was around her.

"I will make sure that you are never to make such a decision," said Steve sweetly.

"That's going to be difficult."

"Mmm, maybe," shrugged Steve before sweetly looking down at her, his blue eyes only barely managing to be visible through his thick eye-lashes, "but if we never move out of this position, we'll never be apart either."

Maria smiled, letting out a soft chuckle, "But what if I have to go to the toilet?"

"I'll join you," joked Steve.

"Steve," chuckled Maria. "You'd blush to death."

"I've been to war. I think I can handle it," chuckled Steve.

"And how am I supposed to interpret that?" joked Maria before leaning up and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "It's very sweet of you, but before we decide to never move out on a mission again, we should find Bucky and make sure he's okay."

A wide smile spread over Steve's lips, "I can't begin to describe how much I adore the fact that you care about Bucky the way I do. You haven't even met him."

"If Steve Rogers is friends with him, he's friends with me. Besides, you have a habit of befriending the kind ones, and it's those people who I want in my life."

"No everyone would see him as kind," mumbled Steve. "Not after what he has done."

"He did those things under brain-control. It wasn't him," defended Maria. "Besides, I'm sure the entire team will be on your side when it comes to saving Bucky. You mean a lot to them."

"The thing is, even if they do stand on my side, there are things that Bucky has done that will make some people turn their heads away from me," mumbled Steve.

"Anything in particular you're referring to?"

Steve stayed silent for a little while before shaking his head, "I just imagine that there are a lot of people he's hurt, that's all."

 _Lies._

"You can tell me anything, Steve, no matter how ugly it is," reassured Maria quietly, staring up into his blue orbs.

"I know," sighed Steve with a soft smile, "That's what I love about you."

A moment of silence passed, the two simply staring at each other and, from time to time, placing soft kisses to each other's lips before the soft atmosphere around them changed.

"Wanda is going to take the entire blame for what happened," whispered Maria.

"It was my fault."

"No, it was my fault. I should have finished what I started," said Maria.

"What do you mean?" asked Steve, furrowing his brow.

"Somehow, seeing you in peril, made me... control the blast. I could contain it, but just for a couple of seconds and then it became too much. But I should've continued on fighting the pain-"

"Maria, if it hurt, you shouldn't even have done it," pressed Steve worriedly.

"I couldn't help it, it just sort of happened. Besides, you might not have been lying here next to me then," she replied quickly.

"Wanda would have contained it. Everything would have been fine," pressed Steve with a sigh. "Anyway, it's new, right? You've never been able to control something that isn't touchable."

"Exactly... It was weird," she hummed.

"Xavier never said anything about you possibly being able to do that?" asked Steve.

"No. He couldn't sense any... uh... greater powers in me. Just the vague ones I've recently gotten. Then again, Erik said that I could do more as a child... and Logan said that sometimes ones powers are hidden even from the Professor."

"Did you just say Logan?" asked Steve. "Why do I recognize that name?"

"I don't know," she replied with a shrug. "You know... He's got name-tags around his neck and... I think those date back to – oh, maybe you saw him in the War?"

"The War?"

"He's... sort of a healer like me."

"I might've..." hummed Steve, a faraway look on his face before he snapped back to reality and looked down at her. "Just be careful you don't hurt yourself using your powers."

"Yes, captain," joked Maria before leaning up to his lips again, hovering just in front of them before looking Steve deeply in the eyes. "I'm not tired yet."

Steve blushed, gently brushing some hair away from her face, "me neither..."


	9. Chapter 9

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 9**

* * *

Gently and without waking Steve, Maria snuck out of the bed and put on a morning robe. Her mouth and throat was as dry as a desert and she craved tea immensely. It was early in the morning and the sun was only slightly visible yet. Normally, Steve would be up by then, but their night had been rather… long and active, which meant he would stay asleep at least two or three more hours still.

To her surprise, Sam was up. Sam was never much of a morning bird (pun intended) and would only leave his bedroom if the sun was already up in the sky, so to see him sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of him was rather surprising to Maria. He did not look up at her as she passed him by to go to the water kettle, nor did he react to her greeting him. As Maria had suspected, something was up with him, and she determined to find out what.

With the strong scent of coffee burning in her nose, she poured herself a cup of hot water before adding the small tea bag. Almost immediately, the scent of coffee in the kitchen was replaced by the sweet scent of tea. Maria joined Sam at the kitchen table, seeing him staring down at the table in front of him. His coffee was no longer warm, no steam coming from the top of the beverage as it did from Maria's cup of tea.

"Sam?" she asked quietly. "Are you alright?"

His eyes moved from the table up to Maria's eyes, though he still did not reply. At least, he did not reply with words. But Maria could see exactly what was wrong in his eyes and in that very moment, she was glad that Logan had opened up to her enough to share with her what happened to a man, or woman, during wars. She had not only Logan to thank for it, but also Steve.

"You're not used to this anymore, are you?"

"I thought I was," said Sam. "I helped you last year with Bucky and Hydra… and I felt alright, I felt alive again, you know? But this time, people died. People who weren't bad guys. It just…"

"Brought up bad memories from the past," ended Maria for him before leaning forwards and offering him her hand.

He hesitated slightly, not sure what she was going to do, before he gently placed his hand on hers. She intertwined their fingers and with a single squeeze and a single soft smile, caused Sam's shoulders to relax visibly.

"You don't have to talk about it. Just know that you helped a lot of people, just like you said. And I'm sure it will get better with time, because it got better with time for a certain friend of mine, and for Steve."

Sam smiled at her, obviously thankful, "You know, you might not be able to heal people with your powers, but you can certainly do so with your words."

A blush appeared on her cheeks at those words and her heart warmed up, "Thank you."

Suddenly, Sam looked over at something behind Maria, making her turn around. There, seeming to have been sitting the entire time, was Wanda on the couch. Sam had probably been too upset to notice her, and Maria had simply not looked that way since she came to the kitchen, having been too occupied with Sam.

"Does it?" she asked, her accent still noticeable, even if it was staring to go away.

Maria and Sam let go of each other.

"It gets better, yes," said Maria, the two of them watching as Wanda stood up and walked over to them, sitting down at the table as well.

"Does it ever go away completely?" asked Wanda, and although Sam and Maria were not a hundred percent sure of what she was talking about, they had the same theory of what it might be.

"Not completely," said Maria honestly. "Sometimes, the thing you regret or that haunts you, will suddenly resurface again and you'll have to fight to get it back down again. But you'll be able to get it back down again. Because while you might not feel like that at the moment, you'll become strong enough to get over whatever it is that is haunting you, and you'll be able to push it down into the depths of your mind, and lock it into a cell that only you have the key to. And when you've got that key in your hand, and you've got that thought tucked away, you'll feel better. I promise."

Wanda leaned forward and placed her hand on the table, like Maria had done earlier. Clearly, Wanda had been listening and watching. Sam placed his hand on hers, silently sympathizing with her while at the same time comforting her, before Maria placed hers on top of theirs.

"We might be heroes in some peoples' eyes, but we're no superhumans when it comes to feelings. In that particular field, we still have to do as everyone else on Earth. Grieve."

* * *

 **One month later**

 _"11 Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation... between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos, when the attack occurred."_

Maria sighed, walking over to Steve as he sat in front of the screen in his office. Well, it was his office, though he barely ever used it as there really was not much use of an office when on was an Avenger. Steve used the computer for research from time to time, though he did rather use other means to do just that, such as books or old files.

She placed her hands on his shoulders, feeling the tension that was evident there. Her eyes stayed glued on the screen as the king of Wakanda came into view, with the words "demands accountability from the Avengers" underneath of him. Even now, a month after the incident, it was still haunting them all. Now more than ever, as the Wakandians were trying to, indeed, make the Avengers be the ones accountable for the incident. In her point of view, she found they had suffered enough mentally already and did not need to go public with an apology and what not. But on the other hand, the whole story was never published either, seeing as no one in Wakanda knew the story behind what had happened, and how they actually had saved the entire city and a lot more people then they knew of. Though the explosions… there was no real excuse for that.

 _"Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil... not only because of the actions of criminals... but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent... is no victory at all."_

Maria leaned forwards, letting her hands slide down Steve's chest as she leaned her chin on his shoulder. He gently grabbed her hands, holding them against him before he turned off the computer.

"Perhaps we should say something to the news… I'm sure Stark could help us go public somehow…" mumbled Maria quietly.

Steve didn't reply, but instead turned his head to the right, hearing something which Maria had barely noticed yet. The news was turned on in someone else's room as well, and Maria was sure she knew whoms.

"Go to her…" she said quietly, standing back up again. "She needs some guidance in her life."

Without a word, Steve stood up and walked away, leaving Maria to stand alone in the office. She sat down, intertwining her fingers over her stomach as she leaned back in Steve's chair. With her powers, she turned the screen back on by pushing down the button, continuing to watch the news as they spoke of Wanda's 'impulsive and destructible' actions in Lagos. None of them took notice of the fact that Maria had started it all, or the fact that they had saved people from being exploded to death by that bomb vest. It bothered her greatly, though she knew not what to do about it. Unless Steve suddenly wanted to go out and talk about their point of view, they would simply have to deal with what was said and deal with the consequences that came from it. In a way, keeping quiet might be the best action after all. Steve probably did not want to seem like the Avengers were defending what had happened, as it was not good after all.

Sam walked into the room, turning the screen off in front of her face. She looked up at him and saw the seriousness in his eyes, which caused her to straighten up again.

"Stark's here…" he said. "He's brought a guest…"

"Who?"

"The secretary of State. He wants to meet us all."

Maria nodded, following Sam into the Briefing room. In front of the large screen, was stood an older man, who Maria deduced was the Secretary of State, whom Sam had said that Tony had brought with him. It confused her as to why he had done that, but she tried not to speculate too much yet, as she wanted to hear what the man had to say.

Sitting down next to Vision and Sam, and opposite of Steve, she looked over at the Secretary of State who almost immediately began his story. Maria shortly noticed that Tony was sat all the way in the back, in the shadows, simply staring at the Secretary of State, and looking at no one else.

The man from the army spoke with a soft voice; slowly and clearly. It was obvious that he was trying to sell something to them and be extra kind so as to not lose their interest. Though Maria could not help but feel there was something else behind that fake mask, something horrible that simply said that he did not anything to do with either of them.

"Five years ago... I had a heart attack... and dropped right in the middle of my backswing. Turned out it was the best round of my life because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me; perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives - but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some... who would prefer the word 'vigilantes'."

Maria noticed Wanda glance back at her, and although Wanda's eyes were filled with emotions and regret, there was also a hint of humour; and Maria knew exactly why. It was unprofessional to make internal jokes when listening to something serious and obviously important, though the two women had both just recently had a Batman marathon and could not stop making Batman jokes, even during dark times as such. The word 'vigilantes' had simply made them both think of Batman, and via barely noticeable smirks exchanged between each other, the two shared a short joke before quickly turned back to the Secretary of State and putting up their serious faces again.

"What word would you use, Mr Secretary?" asked Steve.

"How about 'dangerous'?" said the man, causing Sam to scoff, which only earned him a harsh look from the Secretary of State. "What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals, who routinely ignore sovereign borders, and inflict their will wherever they choose... and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"

Sam kept a straight face, staring back at the Secretary of State, who turned around and turned the screen off, showing to them the Battle of New York. It brought back memories to Maria – memories of how she was back then, of who she was; her fears, her doubts and the beginning of her love for Steve. It brought back memories of redemption and a second chance; all memories which she had not thought of for a long time.

"New York."

 _Loki…_

The images changed into what used to be the SHIELD headquarters as the helicarriers crashed into it. Horribles memories of pain, confusion and Artur came back to her and she looked away from the screen.

"Washington, D.C."

 _Hydra…_

The images changed again, though this time they were of Sokovia, where they had managed to eradicate the last of Hydra and where they destroyed Ultron – but at a cost which Maria had not thought about. The civilians had been on their mind and to her, they had saved almost everyone. Though she had never really followed up on the story, mostly because she had died.

"Sokovia."

 _Ultron…_

She looked over at Wanda as the images changed again, but to where they had been only a month back. Maria noticed, along with many others, that Wanda had a hard time looking at the images.

"Lagos."

 _Rumlow…_

"Okay, that's enough," said Steve as the Secretary of State kept the images of hurt people and the burning building stay on, clearly causing pain to Wanda.

Finally, the screen was turned off and Wanda could look back up at the Secretary of State.

"For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution. The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries." The secretary of State placed a heavy, thick book on the table, which Wanda cautiously grabbed to read through the first couple of pages. "It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organisation. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel. Only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

Wanda glanced up at Rhodes, not quite sure what to make of it. He opened his hand, and Wanda carefully pushed it over to him so he could read too.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that," said Steve quietly.

"Tell me Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?"

"Come on, you know that they are not a threat to us. So what would it matter if they are MIA for a little while?" asked Maria.

"It matters because of previous damage they've done," said the Secretary of State calmly. "Would you like me to show you those images as well?"

Maria leaned back in her chair, pursing her lips and biting down on her teeth so the muscles in her jaw jumped.

"If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes you can bet there'd be consequences," added the Secretary of State, still staring at Maria.

"Bruce is no nuke. And neither is Thor."

"Maria," said Steve gently, causing her to look over at him and lean back even more in her chair at the soft look he gave her, silently telling her to back down.

"Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works," the Secretary of State continued, a smug look on his face as he finally looked away from Maria. "Believe me, this is the middle ground. So, there are contingencies. Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna... to ratify the Accords. Talk it over."

With that said, the Secretary of State left the briefing room. A man who wanted to control them – that was what he was. He wanted to use them when needed, and not when they wanted to interfere. They would become pawns in someone else's game. No more research on their own, no more work according to their own agreements. Everything would be controlled.

She glanced over at Steve and to her relief, she saw in his eyes the same thoughts and doubts as he looked at the book Rhodes was still holding in his hands. Why was she relieved? Well, if they had not been on the same page on this one, Maria would not have been able to follow Steve the way she had promised she would always do. To herself, she had promised to always be by his side, but if Steve had wanted to sign the accord, she would not have been able to follow him. She had been controlled before – worked underneath of people who simply used her. She was not about to do that again.


	10. Chapter 10

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 10**

* * *

Following the meeting, the Avengers all met up in the living room. Everyone but Tony sat down on the couches positioned there, sullen and serious looks on their faces. Whether those looks were there because of what they had just seen, the destruction they had managed to create over the years as a team, or whether it was because they were worried about the decision, Maria could not tell individually on the people around her. Though she knew her own sullen look was there because of the worry for what their future might look like.

Tony walked over to the kitchen area, leaning against a counter there. Without having said a word about what they were going to do in the living room, the Avengers were all silently prepared to begin discussing the matter at hand; to discuss the future and the decision that the Secretary of State had given them all.

While Maria had walked over to sit down next to Steve, she had noticed Tony's eyes had followed her all the way to the couch. Even while she was still seated there in silence, she still felt his eyes lingering on her and it was beginning to annoy her slightly; so she looked up at him to where he was standing. Ever since he had returned, he had barely said a word to either of the Avengers, simply stayed in the back while the Secretary of State did all the talking. It was strange for Stark to not take his place in a room, and the tension in the air told Maria that Tony indeed had intended for the Secretary to give the Avengers that very choice, though there was more behind it; a bigger reason which he was yet to reveal to them.

"See something you like?" she asked with an annoyed tone to her voice, causing Steve to look over at Tony as well.

"You done something with your hair, Dalton?"

Maria raised an eyebrow at him, "No, why?"

"You just seem… Different. Like you're… Oh! Never mind, I won't interfere with your private life," he said, raising his hands in defence.

"Excuse me?" asked Maria, furrowing her brow.

"Nothing."

Steve glanced at her with a confused look, to which Maria shrugged, "It's been a while since we last saw each other. Maybe I've aged."

Tony smirked before going serious again, his eyes holding words and questions that Maria knew he needed to get out.

"You know, it's good to have you back again," said Tony with a simply shrug before he began to walk back towards the couch. "I never doubted you wouldn't come back though, of course. And I'm sure that Banner would have been happy to see you return too."

Maria glanced over at Natasha, as did Wanda, at the mention of Bruce. Though Natasha seemed to not have heard the mention of Bruce, or she was rather good at masking her feelings. Either way, both Maria and Wanda shared a glance.

"It's good to be back," replied Maria before sighing, "though maybe not right now. There's much to be discussed. To be thought over."

As she and Steve looked out over the rest of the Avengers, Maria could, from the corner of her eyes, see Tony lying down on another couch, placing his hand over his eyes to shut out the world. Something was up with him, and Maria was worried about whatever it was. They were friends, and seeing him bothered by something was hard for her.

Vision leaned over towards Steve and Maria, offering them the accords; the thick, giant book, that they were either going to sign or not. Maria and Steve were the only ones who had not looked at it yet, though Maria doubted she would have the patience to actually read through all of that. While Steve only vaguely read it through, turning the pages every now and then, Maria read some paragraphs and understood the language was something you'd have to have gone to school for to understand. Even the sentences that did not include laws were difficult for her to understand, though she still tried. After all, this was her future and she needed to know whether it was a good idea to not sign it.

 _Might include a safe-net for me if I get the flu, after all…_ she thought to herself, smirking slightly at her own joke. Deep down, she already knew she was not going to sign it, no matter what the positive amendments were. She was not going to let someone else rule over the only thing in her life through which she had ever done anything good. This whole thing; the Avengers, her new family, was her whole life now, and to think that it would be sullied by some control-freak government was not what Maria would ever allow. In that case, she would rather leave the Avengers and do what Matt was doing – work alone.

It did not take long for some of the Avengers to clash. And it was not a surprise to Maria that it was the two members who had the most history with the army, and the two members who always had the most opinions on things, who had clashed first. Luckily, it did not seem more than a discussion for the moment, though she was ready to interfere if the discussion became a little more heated.

"What does that mean?" asked Maria quietly, leaning against Steve and gently pointing at a sentence she had managed to, again, not understand.

"Basically, it means we have no freedom," mumbled Steve before closing the book.

"Seems the roles have been switched," whispered Maria gently, trying to lighten Steve's mood even though her own was not much better. "With these sort of things, you're the one who knows it all. But when it comes to technology…"

Steve's lips twitched up into a soft smirk and he glanced over at her, "You know, soon I'll actually understand the need for Facebook too, and you'll not be able to say that anymore."

Jokingly, Maria pouted to which Steve patted her knee, still smirking. His hand stayed resting on her knee, and their eyes connected again. Another tension briefly come to life between the two of them, one no one else in the room noticed thanks to Rhodes and Sam discussing – the two had even stood up, as if that would help with their own arguments. Though the tension – the sweet, warm tension – was soon gone as their attention was brought over to the two discussing Avengers.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional medal of Honour," argued Rhodes from behind Maria and Steve. "Which is one more than you have."

At the annoyed look on Steve's face and the glare he sent towards the accords, one would think that he was trying to vaporize it with his non-existent laser-eyes. Gently, Maria placed a hand on his arm to try and calm him down, and although his features smoothed down slightly when he looked over at her, she could still see the annoyance in his eyes.

"So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?" asked Sam who, too, was standing behind the couch Maria and Steve were sat in.

From underneath his hands, Maria could see Tony was rolling his eyes at the discussion Sam and Rhodes were having, though Maria couldn't help but think Sam had quite a solid and good argument.

"117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it,'" argued Rhodes, doing a rather awful impression of Sam to which Maria would have laughed, had it happened under different circumstances.

"How long are you going to play both sides?" argued Sam back while Rhodes was still talking.

Luckily, Vision interfered.

"I have an equation," he said loudly, causing both men to quiet down, while the others all looked over at him.

"Oh, now this will clear it up," said Sam with a hint of sarcasm mixed with seriousness.

"In the eight years since Mr Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. Amongst those people you'll find both me, Miss Maximoff and Miss Dalton," began Vision.

"Which is a good thing, right? People are finally ready and brave enough to come out… uh, come out as enhanced," said Maria.

Vision held up a finger, signalling to her that he was not done yet, "During the same period the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

"Are you saying it's our fault?" asked Steve, the hand on Maria's knee tightening slightly; an action he probably accidentally did unconsciously.

"I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe," said Vision solemnly. "Oversight. Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

"Boom," said Rhodes, clearly agreeing with what Vision had just said.

Maria gently shook her head, not being able to help the annoyance that arose in the pit of her stomach at the way Rhodes had reacted to that fact.

"Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal," said Natasha, saying what Maria had been thinking all along too.

Being addressed caused Tony to remove his hand from his face, and he once again rolled his eyes.

"It's because he's already made up his mind," stated Steve solemnly.

"Boy you know me so well," scoffed Tony, standing back up again and once more walking over to the kitchen area. With a sigh, he continued; "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort." Another sigh escaped him as he turned away from the sink; "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

It was Maria's turn to roll her eyes, though she said nothing, wanting to hear what Tony's argument was; what his reason was to even decide to put the Avengers in check. Because that was what Tony had made happen after all, right? He was the one who brought that Ross guy to the facility after all. And something told her that Tony had something to do with the accords as well – though she did not want to believe that. She wanted to believe that it was her mind assuming things because Tony had brought Ross with him and that she was unconsciously seeing them as allies because of that, but there was still a nagging doubt in her mind…

"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way," said Tony suddenly, and as Maria looked up, she saw Tony was showing to them a holograph of a boy. "He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA... had a floor-level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul before he parked it behind a desk; see the world, maybe be of service... Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor - guess where: Sokovia. He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. We won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were 'kicking ass'. There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less... we're no better than the bad guys."

"Don't say that-" began Maria with a shake of her head.

"It's the truth," spat Tony, causing Maria to look away from him.

"Tony…" warned Steve, referring to the harsh tone he had used, before he calmed down, "Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up."

"Who said we're giving up?" asked Tony.

"We are for not taking responsibility for our actions," continued Steve. "This document just shifts the blame."

"I'm sorry, Steve. That is dangerously arrogant," argued Rhodes. "This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not Hydra."

"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change," argued Steve, standing his ground.

"That's good," countered Tony, walking over to the living room area once more. "That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands... I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"But, Tony, you chose to do that. Don't you understand that Steve is trying to tell you that you won't be able to choose the next time if you sign these accords?" argued Maria.

"What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own," argued Steve.

"Amen," added Sam under his breath.

Tony looked down at Maria and Steve both looking up at him and once more rolled his eyes. The rolling of Tony's eyes was beginning to annoy Maria even more.

"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty," explained Tony seriously, yet his tone was soft, as if he was worried for his family's sake, even though he knew perfectly well that they could handle anything. After all, they could handle aliens attacking New York and they could handle an AI attacking the world.

"You're saying they'll come for me," said Wanda quietly.

"We would protect you," stated Vision quietly.

"Maybe Tony's right…" said Natasha suddenly. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off..."

"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" asked Sam incredulously, raising an eyebrow over at Natasha who squirmed slightly under his gaze.

"I'm just reading the terrain," she explained. "We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."

"Focus up – I'm sorry, did I just mishear you, or did you agree with me?"

Natasha glanced once over at Wanda and Maria before looking back at Tony, "I want to take it back now," she said with sarcasm over his way of talking to her.

Maria glanced at Wanda. Over the past couple of months, the three women had grown rather close. It was strange to Maria to see them all suddenly become so split and… disagree. Steve looked rather saddened to hear Natasha disagree with them as well, though there was not much to do.

"No, you can't retract it," said Tony, waving a finger at her before becoming serious, "Thank you. Unprecedented."

"This isn't a game," said Maria with a sigh at the same time as Steve's phone buzzed. "It's not something you either agree with Tony on or Steve. This is something individual. Either you're in with the accords, or you're not."

"But if it were like that," said Tony, pointing a finger at Maria, "you would probably be on Steve's side, right?"

"I would be on my own side," countered Maria.

"No – you would be on Steve's side. I know that, because that's always the case," replied Tony nonchalantly.

"You have a problem with me happening to have the same opinions on things as Steve?" shot Maria back, narrowing her eyes.

"They simply have the same opinions. No reason to make _that_ personal," defended Wanda with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh really? No, it's more than that. It's more like you're a puppy following its mummy – or daddy in this case. Yeah, Steve's your daddy-"

"Will you shut up about that!? You're being rude. And – euw – that sounds wrong!" exclaimed Maria.

"I have to go," breathed Steve, pushing the accords into Maria's arms before standing up and walking away in a hurry.

"Steve?" asked Maria, though he simply walked out of the room, not replying to her.

Silence ensued over the room and Maria's eyes went down to the book in her hands.

"I think you offended him…" whispered Rhodes.

A rush of anger washed over Maria and she stood up, "To say those kinds of things," she said, pointing a finger at Tony in a threatening way before taking a deep breath. Without another word, she dropped the book straight to the ground before turning and following Steve, counting to ten on the way to make sure she did not talk to Steve while angered.

He had entered the stairwell and she assumed he was going to go downstairs – though she found him sitting down on one of the steps, his back to her. In his hands, he held the phone that had buzzed before he had left so suddenly.

"Steve?" she asked quietly as she walked down the steps to him. "If this is about what Tony said… It's not like that. I just simply agree with you…"

Slowly, she sat down, inspecting his face. Her heart sank as she saw tears in his eyes, tears he was obviously trying to hold in in front of her. She carefully placed a hand on his arm, to which he reacted immediately. Like the innocent young man Maria knew he was deep down inside, he sought comfort in her by resting his head in the crook of his neck, leaning against her. Albeit it was a rather awkward position, seeing as Steve was larger than her, she still tried her best to sooth his pain away by gently brushing her fingers through his hair, while holding her other hand on his arm, gently stroking circles up and down his arm. He was still holding his phone in his hands, and she managed to catch a glimpse of what was written on it.

It was text message that simply read; _"She's gone. In her sleep."_

"Oh Steve…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 11**

* * *

The funeral was held in London. After all, Peggy Carter was from there originally and also wanted her body to return there after she died. The church they were in was huge and the arrangements that had been made were beautiful; the flowers mostly consisted of roses of different colours, the songs that had been chosen to be sung represented Peggy's life in a beautiful way and, to top it all off (even though most people did not pick up on this last arrangement), Steve was allowed to help carry the coffin down towards the altar.

Albeit the roses and church music reminded Maria much of both her mother's funeral and her grandparent's funeral – not in the way it was arranged, but due to the fact that it was a funeral in general – Maria kept her chin high and stayed strong for Steve, who was sat next to her during the entire ordeal with both a pained expression in his eyes, and tears threatening to spill.

Funerals were a funny thing. One moment, you are simply watching and listening to what the priest has to say, and then suddenly, a word or a phrase catches you off guard and you are suddenly remembered by what the person used to be. That pain you feel, when something like that happens; that utter pain and distraught, is part of the worst thing when it comes to funerals. Especially since, once you start crying, you can't stop.

One such phrase seemed to hit Steve hard at one point, as his hand that was clutching Maria's, suddenly tightened. It was not due to the fact that Sam (who was also present like the good friend he was) pointed out that Sharon Carter, the niece of Peggy, was in fact the blonde agent that had been spying on Steve over a year ago when Hydra had been found out to exist under SHIELD's eyes – no, instead it was due to something she said during her speech about her aunt. Of course, his eyes had almost lit up when he had seen that Peggy was not completely gone after all and that the spirit that drove Peggy to be the strong independent woman she was, lived on in her niece. Though it was not that which had made his fist clench around hers…

"… Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say: 'No, you move.'"

It was inspiring, and all in all something that Maria could have heard Steve say as well. Though he seemed pressured into doing what his team mates wanted him to do, and perhaps those words that once belonged to Peggy, made him realize that he indeed should follow his own heart. It somewhat relieved Maria that Steve had found out what he wanted – though she felt mostly relieved about the fact that it was due to him having the same thoughts as her. She wanted no more conflicts, just a peaceful life with Steve.

Once the funeral was over, Sam went to get them all a hotel room. They had arrived before the funeral and had had no real time to get a hotel room just yet. Maria and Steve stayed put in the pew, watching the people walk past and exit the church. At the front, the family members of Peggy stood for a while to shake hands with those who wanted to share their condolences with them, though they soon left as well. As Sharon walked past, her brown, twinkling eyes met with Steve's and he held her gaze for a little longer than Maria liked. Yet, she kept those darker thoughts to herself and simply pretended like she had not seen anything when Steve glanced over at her.

When even the priest had left to do something and only Steve, Maria and the coffin at the front were left in the church, he finally stood up. Maria followed suit, their hands still intertwined.

"I'm glad you wanted to come," he said, his eyes still staring ahead of them at the coffin.

Maria glanced up at him, her eyes scanning his face and seeing only pain and suffering radiating off of him.

"It's what we do for each other. Support one another through fire and ice," she said quietly.

Steve nodded his head, too exhausted to actually give a reply. She leaned against him, gently rubbing her hand over his arm, "Let's go, Steve."

They turned, starting to head back towards the exit of the church and past the seemingly endless rows of pews. It was then that the doors opened, revealing to them a person they had not expected to be there; Natasha.

The two stopped walking, waiting for Natasha to walk up to them instead.

"Are you not supposed to be in Vienna?" asked Maria, hating how cold her question sounded.

Natasha looked at her, her eyes clearly drilling into Maria's mind and understanding exactly what the underlying tone to her question meant. It made Maria's cheeks flush and she lowered her gaze.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, it's a reasonable question," said Natasha quietly, causing Maria to look back up at her. "After all, the discussions are starting today. But I wanted to be here for my friend as well."

Maria nodded, putting a smile on her face, "That's very kind of you."

"Because we are still friends, right?" asked Natasha, her eyes clearly lingering on Maria's form.

"I…" began Maria, though could not find an answer.

Natasha, Maria and Wanda had become so close lately that it pained Maria that Natasha was not on their side. Whether Wanda was or not was unsure – though she had yet to say whether she was on Natasha's or Maria's side, which was fine by Maria. But Natasha had clearly said that she did not agree with Maria and Steve, and although friends should not agree about everything, this was about their future and it was bigger than whether she liked the Christian Bale version of Batman or the Adam West one better. So, so much bigger…

"I just want to do what's right," she said quietly.

"I know," replied Maria, remembering well and clearly how Natasha had opened up to her and Steve a little over a year ago about how she had done so much bad things in her life that she just could not stand doing more bad things. Natasha was still trying to figure out what was right and wrong, and if she thought signing the accords were right, then Maria would not hate her for it. "I really do know."

Softly, and without letting go of Steve's hand, Maria embraced Natasha with one arm, holding her close to her while Natasha hugged her back. Something about the hug made both assassins realize it might be the last one in a while, and as they let go of each other, Maria felt empty. As if she, by breaking that hug, had left a part of her heart with Natasha; a part of her heart that Natasha with her friendship had managed to fill up once.

"Who else signed?" asked Steve quietly.

"Tony, Rhodey, Vision," answered Natasha.

"Clint?" asked Maria, remembering the man who had once mentored her, or at least begun to mentor her, into becoming a SHIELD agent – until things went badly with SHIELD.

"Says he's retired," replied Natasha.

"Wanda?" asked Steve.

"TBD," she replied before sighing, "I'm off to Vienna for the signing of the accords. There's plenty of room on the jet if you want to change your mind within the upcoming fifteen minutes," she said sarcastically while looking down at her watch, already knowing the answer the two heroes before her were going to give.

Upon not getting a reply back, Natasha continued to talk, "Just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path. Staying together is more important than how we stay together."

"What are we giving up to do it? I'm sorry, Nat. I can't sign it," said Steve with a sigh.

"We can't sign it," added Maria, gently squeezing his hand.

"I know. Just know that, this doesn't have to mean we're not friends anymore," added Natasha, looking between both Steve and Maria. "I've never had better friends than either of you."

Steve smiled before doing what Maria had done, embracing Natasha without letting go of Maria's hand. Once they let go, Natasha took in a deep breath before taking a step back. Her eyes went from Steve to Maria before her eyebrows twitched slightly and her head tilted slightly to the side.

"You know," she said, looking Maria over, "Tony was right. You do look different."

"In what way?" asked Steve, a slightly concerned look on his face.

"I don't know… He never told me what he meant but… there's just…" although she was trying to hide it, a hint of sudden realization dawned on her. Yet there seemed to be something in Natasha's eyes that also told Maria that she was doubting what she had realized. "How's the scar on your stomach?"

"What?"

Natasha simply looked at Maria, seeming to want an answer.

"I-It's fine," replied Maria simply, furrowing her brow. "Still as visible as always, if that's what you're asking."

"Just checking," shrugged Natasha, a hint of a smirk on her lips. "If there's any changes, you've got my number."

"Changes in what?" asked Steve. "If there's something you know, Nat, please tell us. It's starting to worry me that everyone thinks something is wrong."

"Oh, believe me, it's nothing life-threatening," said Natasha with a smile.

Though the smile slowly faded again as the time for her to leave came.

"Goodbye."

Maria and Steve nodded their heads before sombrely replying, "Goodbye."

They waited until the doors closed behind Natasha before continuing to talk. Steve immediately moved Maria so she was facing him, his eyes scanning over her while his hands traced her arms and shoulders.

"I don't see it…"

"That's the second person now… There's gotta be – maybe it has something to do with my powers?"

"What bothers me the most is the fact that they clearly know, but don't want to tell us," said Steve quietly before putting his hands on her cheeks. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," she replied quietly before looking away from his face, "You don't think… You don't think this is something dangerous, right? Something dangerous that they are keeping from us so they can use it to their advantage?"

Steve shook his head, "That's our friends you're talking about. Our family. They would never, even if we argue, hurt any of us in such a way."

"I hope so," she whispered, earning a stern look from Steve.

"I know so."

* * *

The hotel room Sam had gotten was quite amazing. It had three beds and a huge en suite bathroom. There was a large bathtub big enough for four people, in which Maria was currently residing, that was connected to the bathroom via glass doors. Small bulbs hung from the ceiling above the tub, making it look like, when the lights were off in the small room the tub resided in, like a star-filled night-sky. The bubbles smelled of a mix of citrus fruits and flowers, the scent making her relax even more. Her tired body had almost fallen asleep three times already in the tub, though she had been awoken each time by the bubbles touching her nose as she had slowly sunken down into the water. It was dangerous, yes, but it was ten times better than being out in the hotel room and it was not scary to her as it was not an entire ocean. She would not drown and die, after all.

She had escaped to the tub after Sharon had called Steve and asked to come up to meet him and his friends. Sam had ordered takeaway and they had planned a nice evening, though Maria could not enjoy the company of the young Carter girl. There was something about her that was off-putting to Maria, and so she had said she was going to take a bath. It might have come off as rude, though she did not care. All she cared about was the warmth of the water, and the fact that she was so relaxed she could fall asleep any minute.

As the water begun to get chilly, Maria _exited the bathtub and wrapped a towel around her body. Only the tips of her hair were wet, having not wanted to wash her hair that day, and so she proceeded to place herself in front of the mirror and dry of those parts of her hair that had managed to get wet anyway. The smell from the bubbles was still vividly in her nose, as if she was still sitting in the bathtub right there and then, though it did not bother her as the smell was so good and so relaxing._

 _Taking off the towel around her body, she proceeded to dry the rest of her body before grabbing a small bottle of lotion from one of the shelves, smelling it to see if it was any good, before beginning to put it all over her body. It was during that procedure that Maria noticed something in her peripheral vision. The mirror in the bathroom was huge, large enough to at least show Maria's entire upper body. While she had been putting lotion onto her body, her peripheral vision had caught something odd in the mirror; something on her body._

 _The scar from when she had fallen all those years ago, the scar from where the pipe had pierced through her abdomen – was not there._

 _"What the…" she mumbled as she let her fingers trace over the piece of her abdomen where the scar had always been._

 _There was not a single trace left of it. It had been an ugly one which she had even been able to feel through a thinner t-shirt. Steve had not been bothered by it as much as Maria had, and now that it was gone… There was something off about the skin where the scar had once been. Of course it felt smoother seeing as the scar was not there anymore to rough up the skin – but there was more._

 _As Maria placed her hand on her stomach, she could feel that her entire stomach was different. Her skin was pulled outwards slightly and something was pushing from the inside, trying to get out. At first, no pain was there, yet it came the moment she noticed this difference. It was an excruciating pain, hurting her in ways she had never experienced before. She could feel her skin being pulled to the point where it was starting to tear and the pain from within her stomach hurt her so badly. In a way, the pain reminded her of the same one she had felt while trying to save Steve from the explosion, right before Wanda had to take over. Though it was a hundred times worse._

 _As she screamed, something wet touched her nose_ and suddenly she jolted awake in the bathtub she had fallen asleep in. She accidentally swallowed some water after gasping in surprise at the 'nightmare' she had been through, and while almost coughing her lungs up, she exited the tub and, while almost slipping twice, quickly made her way to the mirror. With one hand against the mirror to keep her upright from the lack of oxygen after the coughing-fit, and one hand on her stomach, she calmed down. The scar was there and no pain nor pressure was there in the pit of her stomach. Though it was strange how real the dream had felt…

A knock was heard on her bathroom door and she whipped her head around towards the sound.

"Y-Yes?" she called.

"M, you gotta see this," said Sam's voice through the door.

"I – I'll be right there!"

Quickly, she put on some underwear and a long t-shirt that actually belonged to Steve, before putting on one of the white bathrobes that had come with the room. With some of her hair still dripping, she exited the bathroom to find all three; Steve, Sharon and Sam, standing in front of the large TV in the room. She walked over to Steve, staring at the TV with wide eyes.

 _"A bomb was hidden in a news-van and managed to rip through the UN building in Vienna. More than 70 people have been injured. At least 12 are dead including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect who they have identified as James Buchanan Barnes; the Winter Soldier. The infamous HYDRA agent linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations."_

"Oh no…" whispered Maria.

"We gotta go there," said Steve quietly to Maria. "Nat was there."

"Of course," she said quietly, staring at the picture of Bucky the news channel was showing to the world. "And…"

"It's a lead," said Sam quietly. "Albeit not the most positive one."

"That wasn't him though," said Steve with a shake of his head. "It can't have been."

"Only one way to find out," sighed Maria. "I guess we're going to Vienna now."

"I'll take you… I gotta go to work," said Sharon, and for the first time in Maria's life, she was actually thankful that Sharon was there.

* * *

 **So, this little 'nightmare' thingy was the first hint of many about what will happen to Maria (and Steve in a way) during this story. What do you all think? :) Also, I'm going to start replying to comments seeing as I like doing that on Quotev. Interacting with you all is amazing but I hate the fact that you have to send PM's for a reply. So, I'm going to reply to comments (you know, if I get any XD) here on my updates instead. Besides, some people might wonder the same thing and that way it's easier to just have a public reply instead :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 12**

* * *

The airplane ride did not take as long as Maria had expected, and by the time they had arrived in Vienna, the parts of her hair that had managed to get wet had almost had time to dry up.

The building was still smoking by the time they had arrived there. Firefighters, paramedics, police, men in suits and more were running around either towards the tower, or towards people in need. It was chaos, and Maria could not help but be remembered of what happened in Wakanda a while back…

Sharon left the three heroes, who were dressed in civil wars with glasses and hats on to protect their identity even more, in a café close to the building where the bomb had gone off to go to work. Though not before promising to help them in any way she could. Why, Maria was unsure. But she was sure it had something to do with Steve and although she did not like it, she was happy Sharon was helping them. After all, none of the three of them had any means of tracking down Bucky – but the CIA had. And for the CIA, Sharon worked.

"I didn't see her," said Maria with a frown.

"I'll call her," said Steve quietly, taking out his phone and walking outside.

The two heroes left continued eating their little cakes and drinking their coffee in silence, until Sam gently touched Maria's arm, causing her to look over at him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah… I think."

"You looked a little spooked when you exited the bathroom earlier today," he said quietly, glancing over at Steve.

"I just… fell asleep in the bathtub. Made me remember – well, you know," she lied with a soft smile on her lips.

"Yo, I know you. There's something else, isn't there. Something-"

"Don't say I look different too," said Maria with a frown.

"I gotta say, though, Tony ain't wrong. There is something," he said.

"Nat said so too…"

Sam frowned, "Did she say anything else?"

"Just to call her if there were 'any changes'," huffed Maria. "She seemed to know, just like Tony."

"Well, _I_ don't know. All I know is that, to me, you look more… fluffy."

"Excuse me?" chuckled Maria, earning a sheepish look from Sam.

"It's like you're more precious somehow… I dunno."

Steve interrupted their conversation as he returned, "She's fine."

"She tell you to stay out of it?" asked Sam, earning a nod from Steve. "She might have a point."

"He'd do it for me," defended Steve.

"In 1945 maybe," said Sam, earning a look from both Steve and Maria. "Look, I'm not saying this is not a good lead, 'cause it is. It's just that I'm trying to consider all of our options. The people that shoot at you, usually end up shooting at me too. And I ain't as bulletproof as M over here."

"Nat just said they'd arrest us," said Steve quietly.

"Let them try," added Maria, crossing her arms over her chest to which Steve smiled.

"Tips have been pouring in since that footage went public," said Sharon's voice as she suddenly appeared next to Maria, startling her. "Everybody thinks the Winter Soldier goes to their gym. Most of it is noise. Except for this." She slid a file over to Steve which he took and opened. "My boss expects a briefing, pretty much now... so that's all the head start you're gonna get."

"Thank you," said Steve quietly, glancing at her through his sunglasses.

Sharon made to stand up again, though added a few words first, "You're gonna have to hurry, we have orders to shoot on sight."

"Only him or also whoever aids him?" asked Sam, to which Sharon only glanced at him before walking away. "Great…"

"This is it," said Maria, not sure if she wanted to smile or frown at the excitement she felt. "We might just find Bucky."

"And then bring him in," said Steve before adding, "If he did it."

Both Sam and Maria nodded, "Where is he?"

 **Romania, Bucharest**

In an old building in a more remote part of the city, Steve and Maria climbed a couple flights of stairs until they reached the door where the super soldier was supposedly living and hiding. Maria managed to open the door with some lock picks before the two entered, closing the door behind them. Sam was positioned on a roof-top nearby to keep a look-out, something he could do the best with his new gear and x-ray vision. All three heroes were wearing their suits.

"This place looks…"

"Horrible," finished Steve.

And indeed it did. The apartment was old and probably abandoned. It was dark in there, the windows having been taped over with some old newspapers, keeping the sunlight out while also keeping snooping eyes out. Bucky used it just because nobody would notice him being in there. But no one could stay inside forever, cooped up without any supplies to survive, and so some people had seen his face there in Bucharest and reported it to the task force, who was now on its way to find Bucky themselves and bring him in – dead or alive. Luckily, it looked as though Maria and Steve were first on scene.

Bucky was not home, though a few things in the apartment told them that he had been there, and was still living there. Steve walked over to the one belonging he could see, which was the only thing in there making the place look inhabited; a book on the counter in the kitchen area, while Maria walked over to the bedroom. The bed look used, the sheets thrown to the side, though she wondered if he was getting any sleep at all. Steve had troubles sleeping, even if it helped when she was near, and she could not even imagine what horrors Bucky saw in the night during his sleep; Bucky had done horrible things just like Maria, though he had done more horrible things than her. She had nightmares, yes, but she coped with them with the help of her friends, Bucky had no one.

Apart from the bed, there was a mirror in the bedroom. Though [YC1] it could not be used anymore. Maria noticed it was impossible to get it off the wall, which someone, from the looks of it, had tried to indeed do, though it had only resulted in cracking the glass. Instead, whoever had tried to get rid of the mirror, had painted it over with black paint, making the mirror unusable. As she entered the bathroom, she noticed that the same thing had been done to the mirrors there, along with anything else that was shiny. The tap was painted over with a black paint, the showerhead was and even the small handle on the toilet was. Someone had tried to get rid of every reflection in the room, and Maria doubted it was someone else but Bucky. Peeking out into the bedroom again, her eyes landed on the windows taped over with newspapers and it suddenly hit her…

If there was something Maria could relate to from past painful moments in her life, then it was not wanting to see one's reflection, because it did not reflect who you were in real life. What one saw in the mirror, was the outside and not the horrible inside. Reflections were fake, and they can remind one of who you are on the inside just as well as they can remind someone of what is wrong with their bodies on the outside. The black paint and newspapers used to remove all reflections was a sign of Bucky's suffering; of his hate towards himself and what he had become and it pained her to see it.

Wanting to share this with Steve, she walked out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen again. Though Steve was not alone anymore. Bucky turned his head to look at her as she stayed in the doorway, a surprised look on her face while Bucky had a neutral, unreadable look on his face.

"Do you know me?" asked Steve quietly, gently placing the book back down on the counter.

 _"German Special Forces approaching from the south,"_ said Sam through the ear-piece.

"You're Steve. I read about you in a museum," he said, avoiding eye-contact with both superheroes.

 _"They've set the perimeter,"_ reported Sam.

"I know you're nervous, and you have plenty of reason to be, but you're lying," said Steve.

"I wasn't in Vienna," said Bucky, still avoiding eye-contact and, indeed, acting nervous. "I don't do that anymore."

 _"They're entering the building."_

"And we believe you," said Maria quietly, earning a look from him. "But not everyone will. And those people who won't believe you are coming right now. And they aren't planning on taking you alive."

"That's smart. Good strategy," said Bucky quietly.

"Don't say that," she began though quietened down at the look of Bucky removing his gloves, showing off his metal hand.

 _"They're on the roof, I'm compromised!"_

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck," pleaded Steve.

"It always ends in a fight," he said simply.

 _"Five seconds."_

"You pulled me from that river!" exclaimed Steve, starting to become frustrated with Bucky's clear unwillingness to acknowledge the fact that Bucky actually knows Steve. "Why?"

"I don't know," said Bucky simply, finally looking up at Steve once more, the frustration in his eyes evident.

 _"Three seconds."_

"Yes you do," pressed Steve quietly.

 _"Breach! Breach! Breach!"_

At Sam's yells, Steve and Maria looked towards the window, causing Bucky to do the same. At the exact same moment, a bomb was thrown in through the window, breaking its glass and the newspapers covering it. Steve reacted quickly by using his shield to bounce it back away from the three of them and before it could go off, Maria used her powers to elevate it outside of the apartment where it went off in the middle of the air – hurting no one and nothing. It was not the biggest of bombs, though she was sure it was not the worst they had either.

A second bomb was thrown inside via a window close to Maria and before she could react, Bucky had kicked it away from her and towards Steve, who placed his shield over it as it went off so it only dented the floor and nothing else. A yell was heard from outside the apartment and Maria quickly reacted by placing herself close to Bucky, lifting her hand up and catching whatever bullets they shot through it with her powers, making the bullets stop in the air and limply fall to the floor in front of his boots. Bucky turned and watched her protect him with wide eyes, seeming surprised and unsure of what to do next. Though he quickly recuperated and suddenly, using his metal arm, threw a nearby table at the door to keep both the bullets and the agents there outside for a little longer.

"Thanks," said Maria quietly, out of breath from having used her powers.

Agents suddenly smashed through each window there and the fight was on. Steve used his shield to push away and knock out enemies, while Maria used her sword to do just that as well.

From the other side of the room, Maria heard Steve yell something at Bucky, though she was too busy with the agent in front of her who was managing to dodge her every sword-move. When he took out his gun, aiming it at her, she finally managed to get in a good hit, which he thought he was going to block by grabbing the sword between his hands. It would have been a good move, had her sword not been special. Honestly, she thought these people had had a briefing on the Avengers they might encounter, and he still managed to pull that stunt.

The agent went flying backwards against the wall before sliding down to the ground, unconscious and very much hurt.

"Damn…" said Bucky as Maria looked back over at Steve and him, who were staring at the agent in front of her.

"His own fault," she shrugged before another agent jumped inside, immediately beginning to shoot at them. Bucky dodged some bullets by making them hit his metal arm instead of himself at first, though soon Maria had lifted her hand up and was making the bullets hit walls and ceilings instead of either of the two men.

However, she did not notice a second agent entering behind her, and both Steve and Bucky, moving together as a team (only proving to them that Bucky indeed did know Steve and remembered everything from his past once more), moved over to Maria. Bucky grabbed her arm to pull her away from the agent, while Steve protected her from the bullets he shot at her. She lost focus on the first agent for a second at this move, and a bullet hit her leg before Bucky once more used his own arm to shield her. However, she was barely fazed by it and merely raised her hand once more, making the remaining bullets he shot at her turn around and hit his own legs.

"Damn agents…" she hissed, placing a hand over her already healing wound while Steve knocked out the guy behind her. "It's okay, I'll heal."

Another agent appeared next to Maria and Bucky and before she could react, Bucky had, using his hand which was still on her arm, pushed her against the agent, causing both of them to tumble out onto the balcony. The guy lost his gun while she lost her sword, and while Bucky continued fighting inside Steve came to help Maria outside, knocking out the agent before he could find his gun again.

"You okay?" he asked quietly, earning a nod from Maria as he helped her up. "Sorry about him."

"He doesn't want to get caught by any of us. No, I get it, it's fine."

The two of them re-entered the apartment, Maria once more holding her sword, and they saw knocked out agents all over the place. Thuds and groans were heard from the stairwell and the two quickly made their way towards it, finding Bucky making his way down the stairs slowly, taking out whatever agents attacked him with ease. And so they followed, helping Bucky as much as he could while still trying to stick with him, something he obviously did not want as he kept trying to get away from Steve and Maria at the same time as he fought off the agents.

At one point, Bucky quickly made an escape while Maria and Steve were busy fighting off agents, jumping down several levels before disappearing into a corridor. Hurrying as much as they could, Steve and Maria fought off the agents back to back, Maria lightly tapping the agents with her sword, while Steve knocked out agents with his fists and shield. As they were dealt with, Steve led the way down the stairs towards where Bucky had disappeared and they noticed a shattered window at the end of the hallway.

"He jumped out," sighed Maria. "Go after him."

Steve glanced back at her once before nodding his head. Speeding up his running until he reached the end of the hallway, he jumped onto the windowsill before, with only one foot, jumping over the large distance between the two buildings, reaching the roof of the building Sam had been keeping a lookout from with ease. The jump was impossible for any human to do and survive, and even if Maria would survive, she would have ended up down on the street as she could not jump that far. She pressed her finger against her ear-piece as she approached the broken window, calling for Sam instead. Though she was surprised to not find Steve and Bucky fighting each other or chasing each other, but instead seeing a third person dressed up in a suit resembling a cat-like creature fighting mostly Bucky while Steve ran to help.

 _"Who the hell is the other guy?"_

"I don't know," replied Maria, placing herself in the window, lifting up her arms before jumping so Sam could catch her.

Together, she two flew over towards where the fight was, however they did not manage to get there in time before a helicopter filled with agents appeared above Bucky, Steve and the new guy.

"Put me down!" exclaimed Maria as she saw the agents in the helicopter prepare a large automatic gun of some sorts, and together Sam and Maria landed a few meters away from the fight.

Immediately, Maria lifted her hand up, keeping the bullets away from Steve and Bucky. For a while, things went alright, though there were a lot of bullets and they were not stopping either.

 _"Sam,"_ said Steve over the com-link.

"Got it," he replied, taking off towards the helicopter.

The many bullets and their velocity was taking a toll on Maria. The pain in her stomach appeared again even though she had dealt with more bullets during her training. It was not until it happened now that she realized that the pain resembled what she had experienced in her dream. Her vision started to wobble and she was sure she was screaming in agony.

"Let go Maria!" called Steve with a worried voice from where he was stood on the roof.

However, she did not have to let go as Sam managed to take the helicopter down. She let out a breath of air as the bullets stopped coming and she could stop using the void inside of her, though her knees gave in and she fell down to the ground, clutching her stomach tightly.

Sam landed next to her, saying something in his ear-piece about her which she did not hear as she felt too lightheaded.

"M, talk to me," his voice said as he crouched down in front of her, lightly placing a hand on her forehead.

And suddenly, the pain was gone. Just like that, she was back to normal. She straigthened up, looking down at herself in confusion.

"I-I'm fine again," she said, nodding her head. "I'm fine. It must be the powers or something."

Sam was looking at her with a furrowed brow, though he still nodded.

"Where's Steve?"

"I told him to go after Barnes," said Sam, helping her up. "You up to following them?"

Maria nodded before turning around, letting him grab onto her shoulders and lift them both up into the air.

 _"Sam, I can't shake this guy,"_ said Steve's voice over the com-link. _"I can't let him get to Bucky."_

"We're on it," said Maria, looking up at Sam as he flew down where his gear was telling him Steve was at. They entered a heavily trafficked road existing underneath of the ground – like a tunnel, yet more open, and they flew over towards where they, indeed, saw the cat-man hanging onto a larger SUV. According to Sam's gear, Steve was the one driving that very SUV and Sam sped up.

As they reached the end of the tunnel, they saw Bucky use his metal arm to grab an upcoming motorcycle, holding onto it and swinging it around which made the driver fall off, before, mid-air, Bucky jumped up onto the bike and drove off.

"Damn… I doubt he needs our help…" said Maria before focusing back onto the cat-man.

She looked down before Sam let go of her, making her land on the cat-man. However, he was prepared for it and grabbed her around the throat, throwing her against the back of the SUV before letting go. Luckily, Maria reacted quickly by taking out her sword and stabbing it into the car so she could use it as a handle to hold onto the car. Steve kept driving, unable to do anything else but that while the cat-man climbed the car and jumped from the SUV to Bucky's motorcycle. What happened after that, Maria could not see, though as Steve swivelled away from something and the cat-man suddenly tried to reach for her leg as the SUV drove past him, she assumed Bucky had managed to shake him off.

Luckily, the cat-man did not manage to grab her, though he did manage to grab Sam who was still following them all.

The next thing that happened, happened way too fast for Maria to follow. She heard an explosion and Steve begun to break heavily and steer the car to the left, when suddenly the car's side hit something and begun to roll forwards. Maria hung onto the car during the first roll, but her hands slipped off her sword's handle during the second and she was flung forwards, sliding against the concrete beneath her for a little while before coming to a painful halt in the middle of the road. The car rolled past her, stopping a little ahead of her while Sam stumbled down to the ground next to her, breathing heavily.

"Ow…" she grunted.

Her back, on which she had slid forwards on the concrete ground, was on fire (not literally), and the pain in her stomach was beginning to return again at the same time as the cooling sensation of her healing powers healing her body appeared as well. Sirens were heard coming from the other side of the tunnel, where the ceiling had not caved in and exploded, and Maria knew they had failed.

Sam crawled over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder as she lay there, frowning at the pain.

"M?"

"I'm fine – healing…" she grunted, slowly moving to a sitting position.

A sudden familiar thump was heard from where Steve, Bucky and the cat-man most likely were, and Maria quickly turned her head in the direction of the sound, seeing War Machine land in front of Steve and Bucky, his weapons out.

"Up! Up!" some agents called as they made their way towards Sam and Maria.

Sam begun to help her up, though as she moved the pain in her abdomen increased, causing her to gasp and fall back to the ground.

"M?"

"Shit…" she breathed, her hand grasping his arm tightly. "Shit, shit…"

Her body began to shake from the pain, yet the agents kept yelling at her to stand up.

"Hey! Do you mind!?" yelled Sam back, before giving out a small screech, "Did you just TAZE ME!?"

"It's okay…" breathed Maria, "Just help me stand…"

A cold sweat was beginning to form on her brow as Sam, basically, dragged her forwards towards Steve and Bucky, holding one arm around her waist. Both her hands were clutching her stomach and she was trying her best to not faint from the pain. It was worse than in her nightmare, mostly because it was real, and it was starting to worry her seeing as she was not using her powers. Perhaps Tony and Natasha were actually keeping something dangerous from her…

"Maria!?" exclaimed Steve at the sight of her, wanting to move towards her.

"Don't move!" yelled some agents, tensing up and pointing their weapons straight at Steve.

He bit down some words, exchanging a worried look with Maria before holding up his hands again.

"I'll be fine…" she whispered, mostly to herself. "I'll be… fine…"

She stopped mumbling to herself as an agent grabbed a hold of her, handcuffing her and pushing, although he did not have to, her down to the ground. Before her, she saw the cat-man remove his mask, revealing a dark-skinned man staring at Steve with an intense look. She thought she recognized him from somewhere, though could not point out from where. And when Rhodes greeted the man as 'Your Highness', Maria was even more confused. Vans parked near them, and soon, the heroes were led in there, Maria mostly dragged before the doors were shut close behind them.

"M?"

"I'm fine," breathed Maria as she leaned her head against the seat, breathing heavily and closing her eyes.

"Maria, what's wrong?"

"Remember that stomach ache I told you about? The one I got when I tried to save you from that explosion?" asked Maria quietly, keeping her eyes closed. "It's so not my powers…"

Silence ensued throughout the van, a heavy and worried tension filling up the van. Behind her, the cat-man sat in silence and way in the back, Bucky was seated in silence. Steve and Sam were sat in front of her, though no one said anything.

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly.

"For what?" asked Steve from in front of her.

"Being so annoying… This is not what we need right now," said Maria quietly, sighing at the excruciating pain that was still not going away, nor was it getting any better.

Behind them, the sound of a fainted scream was heard as one of the soldiers was thrown backwards from the SUV Steve had driven through the tunnel. Some curse words were heard from his fellow soldiers while some even laughed at his stupidity, before Rhodes walked over with a blanket in his hands, grabbing the sword the soldier had been trying to get before wrapping it in the blanket and handing it to the soldiers.

"This is not your fault," said Steve quietly. "We'll get through this."

"Steve…" she breathed before letting out a groan at the pain as it increased even more.

Loosing all control of her body, she felt herself get lightheaded again and she slowly slid down until she lay down on the seat. It was nothing she wanted to do, but she could just not keep herself up anymore. Her muscles would not work anymore as all she felt was the pain in her abdomen. It truly felt as though something was twisting around inside of her, trying to get out.

"She fainted, I believe," said a muffled voice before darkness consumed her.

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 **Thanks for reading! Hope you all liked this chapter, it was a bit difficult to write all the action and stuff, but I think I managed OK. What did you guys think?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Just a little heads-up! I did not read this through before uploading, sorry about any weird mistakes. Also, I can't stream movies anymore, so I have to read a script and then just try and remember how things went. So I might miss some things that happened in the movie and I might add some things that did not happen. Either way, sorry if that annoys anyone.**

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 13**

* * *

The faint sound of the engine rumbled and the occasional voice uttering some words rumbled through her ears as she lay, half unconscious on the seat she had been forced to take. Her hands were still bound together by handcuffs and the pain was still very much there.

Whether the voices spoke to her or not, she did not know and she could not be bothered to care about them either. She felt horrible, not only because she was in pure agony, but also because this was the worst time ever to be in that very agony. She was Maria Dalton, girlfriend to Steve Rogers – and she could not be that. She could not be by his side and stay strong for him to lean on when things got rough between him and Bucky; she could not be who she had become during the past years to earn the love Steve felt for her, and it felt horrible, almost as though she was betraying herself.

When the door slid open, revealing artificial lights burning down onto her, a pair of rough hands grasped her arms and forced her out of the car. Standing on her feet awoke her slightly more, though everything around her still felt as though it was far away, or it felt as though she herself was shielded from the world around her because someone had put her in a glass bowl. Something brushed against her arm, though she barely felt it, and when she looked over to her right, she saw Steve standing next to her; a stout and slightly annoyed look on his face. His glaring eyes were directed towards the CIA agent standing in front of Maria, who had forced her out of the car with that strong grip of his. The agent cowered under the glare of Captain America and moved away from Maria.

In her peripheral vision, she saw Bucky being led away. Steve noticed this too and turned his head to look over to where they led Bucky. Another glare ensured itself onto Steve's eyes as Bucky was forced into what looked like a glass-container; a prison of sorts that was built especially for stronger Avengers. At least, Maria thought it was something like such.

The agents began to lead Sam, Steve, Maria and the Cat-Man who Maria still had to learn the name of, over towards a group of people who were awaiting their arrival. Amongst those people, Sharon stood and Maria heart dropped slightly at the sight of her. Now that Maria could not be the supporting and loving girlfriend Steve deserved, Maria was more than afraid that Sharon would try and take her place. After all, there was no ring on Maria's finger nor Steve's finger that would scare away girls – or rather vultures – who wanted to take what was rightly someone else's. Yes, Sharon had helped them and could possibly help them even more, but Maria still loathed her.

A man approached them, a proud and stern look on his face. His greying hair was slick back, and, although is hair indeed was rather grey, he did not look to be as old as his hair wanted people to believe he was. Perhaps he was in his forties, perhaps not. There was a strange strength in the man's eyes that told Maria that, although he did what he was told, he also knew his own morals inside and out and would never, ever, go against them.

In a way, he reminded her a bit of the portrayal of Bilbo Baggins which she had in her mind when reading those books. The only thing wrong with him was the fact that he was wearing a suit, shoes and had no curly hair. Whether he had hair on his feet was something she did not really want to know anyway.

"What's going to happen now?" asked Steve from next to the swaying Maria, her eyelids still feeling heavy and a fear of throwing up whatever she had eaten that day overtaking her suddenly.

"The same thing that ought to happen to you. Psychological evaluation and extradition," replied the suited Baggins in front of them.

"This is Everett Ross, deputy task force commander," said Sharon as she took a step forwards, her eyes fleetly passing over Maria's shaking form. She had introduced the Baggins in front of them, yet it said not much to Maria apart from the fact that he was high up in the CIA ranks.

"What about our lawyer?" asked Steve.

"Lawyer, that's funny," chuckled Ross before turning to the armed agents standing around the four of them. "See to their weapons are placed in the lock up. Oh, we'll write you a receipt."

Turning, Ross began to lead the entire group of people towards a large door. Before they entered it, Steve looked back to see Bucky being transported away in his glass-cell. Bucky stared at Steve with an unreadable expression in his eyes – whether he blamed them for getting caught or not could not be read through his expression.

"I better not look out the window and see anybody flying around in that," mumbled Sam with an annoyed grunt, referring to the agents who were carrying away their things.

Maria caught a glimpse of her sword and wanted to comment on how she wished they would try and use her sword so that they would get as hurt as they could get without dying – though her lack of energy made it impossible to make an ironic comment at the time, and all she could do was follow the others through the door.

"You will be provided with an office instead of a cell. And do me a favour, stay in it," said Ross.

"I'm not intending on going anywhere," mumbled the cat-man to himself, a strange hint of irritation in his voice which Maria, even in her condition, could not miss. He was on a missions, though which one was still slightly unclear to Maria. Though she was sure, after his recent attacks, that his mission had something to do with Bucky.

The scenery changed immediately as they had passed through the doors. From having been in something that had looked more like a large docking bay or garage, to a large space filled with offices divived only by glass walls. High technological computers and screens were positioned everywhere and the quiet sounds of people typing away on their keyboards could be heard vaguely – only vaguely due to Maria's strange condition.

"The medical floor is just up the stairs – " began Ross, though Maria grunted and rolled her eyes at the comment, causing him to keep quiet.

They were the CIA's, or the government's, prisoners and yet they were being treated as though they were going to say yet to the imprisoning treaty, only because they had not managed to flee from the CIA. As Ross led them into one of the offices, their handcuffs were removed and three familiar faces met them; Natasha, Tony and Rhodey. Both Natasha and Rhodey stared at Maria with concerned eyes, to which she glared and simply sat down, leaning her head against the table. Tony was on the phone, his back still turned towards them.

"The remaining of us are now at court-sec. And, Colonel Ross is supervising the clean-up. Try not to break anything while we fix this," said Natasha, her hand gently brushing through Maria's as to comfort her and silently ask her what was wrong.

Steve sat down next to Maria, a grave look on his face which Maria could see only because she turned her head so one ear was pressed against the table. Although her position was uncomfortable, simply slumping down and barely doing anything was very comfortable in its own way. It almost made her pain numb out slightly – though only slightly. He locked eyes with hers, concern and regret filling his eyes.

"We found him…" she whispered, a soft smile on his lips.

Steve's face softened at her words and he reached a hand out to her cheek, gently caressing it. He leaned forwards and whispered, "Indeed we did."

"Just gotta bust him out now," she whispered, causing Steve to smile.

"You really up for that?" asked Steve.

"Are you?" she teased before wrinkling her nose as a wave of pain and nausea overcame her.

"Ross said that it was just upstairs… I don't think we're really prisoners here and… well – "

"I'm fine…" she breathed, closing her eyes in exasperation.

"No, you're not," he pressed. "Please, just go see a medic."

"I'm not leaving your side… We'll go later," she said, forcing her eyes to open again and offer him an encouraging smile.

"Consequences? You bet there will be consequences… Obviously you can quote me on that because I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir," said Tony's voice followed by a small beep indicating that he had hung up the phone.

"Consequences?" asked Steve, leaning back in his chair again and simply resolving to holding Maria's clammy hand.

Tony was quiet for a moment and by the way Steve looked down at Maria again, Maria deduced Tony was silently asking what was wrong with her. She felt slightly awkward to bring so much attention to herself, yet could not be bothered to sit upright and pretend like her insides were not twirling around each other and trying to escape her body.

"Consequences, yes… Secretary Ross wants you three prosecuted. I have to give him something," explained Tony, also informing them that he had been speaking to Secretary Ross on the phone.

"I'm not getting my shield back, am I?" asked Steve, a strange monotone expression on his face, as if he did not really care. Maria made a mental note to ask him about that in the future, though could not bring herself to ask that right then and there as she was too tired.

"Technically, it's the government's property. Sword and wings too," commented Natasha.

"That's cold," said Sam quietly, causing Maria to force herself to sit upright, squeezing Steve's hand in pain.

"Indeed it is," she said, noticing how she slurred slightly as she spoke due to her tiredness and pain. "It's as if we're becoming the government's property too."

"No… It's not," said Natasha quietly. "We just have someone giving us orders now."

Maria and Steve exchanged a look and although Maria could have continued the argument and won, she simply slouched down in her chair.

They were the prisoners of CIA informally. The government had claimed them as their property and all they needed for them to truly become their property was some more paperwork. Bucky was imprisoned even though they had tried to give him a head-start away from the CIA. Maria was in more pain than she had ever been for unknown reasons. Things were not looking good for any of them and yet, neither Steve nor Maria were prepared to give up yet.

They knew this just be glancing at each other. So long as they could reach out to each other and intertwine their fingers with one another, they would be strong enough to never give up the fight to stay their own bosses. And although things looked gloomy and there was no real way out for them, Maria and Steve could still reach out a hand to the other and hold it, which was enough for them both to keep fighting.


	14. Chapter 14

**Another chapter! This is mostly just the quiet before the storm, to be honest. After this, Steve, Maria and Sam are going to be fighting almost non-stop :P**

 **Anyway, just wanted to thank those who followed and favorited since the last update. And I even got a review ;) Things are looking up :P**

 **Kurosnik:** Thanks for the support! Hope you like this update :)

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 14**

* * *

After a while, both Sam and Natasha began to try and force Maria to go to the medical wing as well, and after having made sure that Steve was okay with her leaving his side for a little while as Tony wanted to speak with Steve in private, she made her way up the stairs with the help of Sam.

The amount of tests they took was unimaginable. Maria didn't even know what half of them were, but after having been pricked by syringes from top to bottom, she was rather done with the medical staff and simply wanted to go back to Steve again. Sam stood by her side as she sat on the cot. He watched her face slowly turn into one of annoyance and he couldn't help but smirk.

She glared at him as the last couple of blood samples were taken, "This is ridiculous."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we do really want to help," said one of the nurses, removing yet another syringe from Maria's arm.

"Yeah? Well you will help me by actually giving me some answers as to why I'm in this condition!" she snapped back at the nurse, who, seemingly unimpressed by Maria's anger, turned around and walked away with the blood she had taken from Maria. "Urgh!"

"Now, calm down," pressed Sam, placing a hand on her arm. "At least we'll figure out what is wrong this way."

"No they won't," sighed Natasha with a roll of her eyes. Both Maria and Sam averted their gazes to the doorway, where Natasha was standing with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You know something, don't you?" asked Sam, his hand still resting on Maria's arm.

"I'm quite sure Maria knows it too, deep down," replied Natasha, eyeing the nurse who returned with yet another syringe and more vials to be filled. "If you don't mind, nurse, I have something I would like you to do for me."

Natasha walked over to the nurse and whispered something in her ear, causing the nurse's face to fall into one of realization before she scattered off to grab whatever Natasha had asked for. With a smug look on her face, Natasha turned to Sam and Maria.

"Maybe Steve should be here for this," contemplated Natasha before beginning to walk away.

"No – No! You don't get to go," began Maria, gently hopping down from the cot, "urgh… Y-You don't get to go, until you tell me what you know. Back at Peggy's funeral, you made it seem like you knew something. You can't just keep this from me, Nat. That's not what friends do."

Natasha turned around, her face filled with emotions. Perhaps Maria had struck a nerve with her last sentence, knowing full and well that Natasha was unsure about friendships still. Though Maria could not care about that at the moment as she was too worried about her own condition.

"I'm sure that when those results come back, it will show a rather serious mineral deficiency along with other, uh, deficiencies," replied Natasha quietly.

"Why?" asked Maria and Sam at the same time.

"Why? Well, let's put it this way," began Natasha, "When was the last time you and Steve were, um, intimate?"

Maria's heart sank.

"What has that got to do with her condition?" asked Sam with a roll of his eyes.

"About two months ago," replied Maria to Natasha's question, earning a look from Sam.

"And what does Steve have in his DNA?" asked Natasha.

"Super soldier serum…" replied Maria quietly.

"To keep a life form with that serum in its blood alive, the life form needs a very high metabolism. That's why Steve eats so much without getting fat," explained Natasha. "Now-"

"Stop…" whispered Maria, a tear slipping down her cheek.

"Why are you crying?" asked Sam with a worried tone to his voice, grabbing for her arm again. However, she shoved his hand away from her, glaring at both Sam and Natasha.

"Stop this. Do you think this is funny?"

"M, what are you talking about?"

Another tear slipped down her cheek. Her heart beat fast, thumping against her chest and for a little while, the pain subdued as her emotions became more painful than the physical pain.

What Natasha was implying was that Maria was pregnant. The simple thought of it made her entire heart break in two. To become pregnant and have a family was the one thing in life that she wanted the most – so much even that it was what she knew, deep down, that she would do anything to be able to fulfil that wish of hers; so much even that Wanda had used that very wish against her to weaken her a little over a year ago when they were fighting against Ultron. Though she could not get pregnant, not after the accident Artur had brought upon her. The doctor had told her so himself, and it was now imprinted into her brain and heart as something she grieved each day. No such miracle could happen to a body that was so broken as hers. Her self-healing abilities did not come forth until a little after she had joined SHIELD, meaning her body did not heal from that accident. The scar was still there on her abdomen. From the other wounds she had gotten and healed from over the years, she had no scars.

Bruce came to her mind then. The moment they had shared outside of Clint's house. He had wanted to tell her something about her powers related to the subject of bearing children, though he never got to finish his sentence.

But it was impossible, she thought to herself, _impossible_ for her to become pregnant. Her doctor had told her that her uterus had been torn apart because of the rod that had pierced her abdomen, and that it would never heal properly again.

"Do you think it's funny to joke about babies and pregnancies with me?" she whispered, her anger flaring up as Natasha simply stared at Maria, unsure of what to say. "Because it is not! I _can't_ get pregnant, Nat!"

"That was what your doctors said _several years ago_ ," pressed Natasha. "Didn't Stark and Bruce tell you that your powers were activated because of a very intense moment in your life? Didn't they tell you that it was most likely that exact moment when you fell off the building?"

"Oh yeah, they told me alright," hissed Maria. "And they were probably right. But I didn't heal! I've got a scar and the _doctors told me I couldn't get pregnant!_ "

"Have you not had any periods?"

"Of course I have but-"

"Then why are you doubting me?" asked Natasha, taking a step forwards.

"BECAUSE I CAN'T!"

The room fell silent after her outburst. Both Sam and Natasha watched her stand there, breathing heavily. During her outburst, several tools all around the room had flown up into the air, hitting the ceiling before clattering back down to the floor.

A quiet cough was heard from behind them; the nurse had re-entered the room, "I have the results from the blood-test you wanted me to do, Miss Romanoff."

Natasha did not reply to the nurse, but simply kept staring at Maria.

"I don't want the results," snarled Maria to the nurse before pushing past Sam, stomping back towards the doorway, ready to leave the medical wing.

"Maria, please-"

"Having your period doesn't mean you're fertile," snapped Maria, glaring back over at Natasha. "I was fine with you accepting a different path in life with this whole accord-thing that's torn our team apart. I was fine with that, _Nat_. But this – Stop talking to me about pregnancies that I _know_ I can't have, or otherwise, we're going to have a real problem."

With that said, she turned her back on her friend and left the medical wing. As she was walking down the stairs, the physical pain still gone, she heard Sam call her name, though his footsteps never followed her downstairs. Instead, she had to push her way past the agents working downstairs towards the office where Steve and Tony were. She watched Tony storm out of the office, the same sort of fury on his face directed towards Steve as Maria held for Natasha at the moment. He left Steve seated in a chair with some papers in front of him. She saw him rub his hands across his face, clearly distressed about something.

She entered the office quietly, though Steve still heard her enter. He furrowed his brow at her before quickly standing up and walking over to her.

"You've been crying," he stated, placing his hands on either side of her face, their noses inches apart.

"Nat…" she said quietly. "She was bugging me about something… I really don't want to talk about it."

"Okay…" said Steve quietly, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "Did they find out what was wrong?"

Being close to Steve again made her calm down. The flame of anger inside of her slowly died down, and she closed her eyes, leaning in against his chest. Her emotions calmed, and the physical pain returned, though it seemed to be slightly less than earlier and she could breathe normally and stand on her own two feet. Whatever it was, it was no pregnancy. Due to her messed up uterus, her period was never regular and it being two months late meant nothing to her – especially because the doctors had told her she could not get pregnant. No, it could not be that. The pain came to her when she used her powers, most of the time. She did have to admit that she had been feeling more tired lately, yet she could not point out exactly when that fatigue had begun.

"I don't know. They kept taking tests, but I left before they could give me the results. Nat bothered me," she mumbled against his chest, a feeling of security wrapping itself around her as Steve wrapped his arms around her waist.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm all ears," he said soothingly, placing yet another kiss to her forehead.

She sighed, "I want to know what Tony wanted to talk to you about."

"Let's make a deal," he said, his voice rumbling through his chest. "You tell me what happened upstairs, and I tell you what happened here with Tony."

Maria looked up at Steve, not moving out of his arms, "Deal."

With a soft smile, Steve led her over to the table, sitting them both down.

"Nat said I was pregnant."

Silence fell over them, Maria attentively watching Steve's reaction to her words. A part of her was afraid he would reject her words in a way that would confirm her unsurness of whether or not he wanted a family with her (something neither of them had discussed at all), while another part of her wished for him to be relieved about the fact that she was not, as it would make things for her so much easier.

However, she was unsure of how Steve was reacting. His face stayed neutral, staring at her expectantly as though he knew there was more to the story.

"You're not freaking out," stated Maria, causing Steve to raise an eyebrow.

"Maria, you've told me several times that you cannot get pregnant. That's why – uh," he began, blushing furiously.

"That's why we haven't been careful like other couples, yeah, I know," chuckled Maria, adoring the fact that Steve was still nervous about those things.

"So, why should I freak out – Should I freak out!?"

"No, no," soothed Maria, shaking her head before grabbing his hands. "I can't get pregnant. It was rather hurtful to hear her say she thought I was."

"She most certainly didn't mean anything by it," urged Steve. "There's a lot of pressure on all of us right now, she's probably feeling it too."

"I don't know why seeing as she's already made up her mind to take the easy way out," muttered Maria, earning a stern look from Steve to which she cowered.

"Darling, we can't know her motives for sure seeing as we haven't asked her," said Steve. "And also, don't take what she said personally."

Maria nodded.

"Are you at least feeling better?" asked Steve quietly, a worried expression on his face.

"I am, no thanks to the doctors. It's just… pain. And I don't know why I have it. I get it when I use my powers for too long, and I get tired way easier when exercising… Maybe I have some sort of disease…"

"Can you get sick? And I don't mean viruses such as the common cold, but worse things… cancer or other things…" wondered Steve before sighing at Maria's shrug. "If Bruce had been here-"

"We do have Tony… But I doubt now is the time to ask him for help in this matter… It feels like things are escalating. Like we're not only having different opinions about things anymore, but as though we are nearing something… like a battle of some sorts…"

Steve squeezed her hands before lifting them up to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to each and one of her knuckles, "Whatever happens, we have each other."

"Can I join in on that too?" asked Sam as he appeared in the doorway. "I mean, I can join in without the kisses, right?"

Steve smirked at his comment, lowering their intertwined hands to rest in his lap.

"Nat wants to apologize-"

"Good for her," snapped Maria before sighing, "I'm sorry Sam, I'm not mad at you."

"I know," sighed Sam, sitting down next to Steve.

"Now, I've held my end of the bargain… What did Tony have to say?" asked Maria, earning Sam's attention as well.

Steve glanced between Sam and Maria before beginning his story, telling them both about how Tony had tried to sweet-talk Steve into signing the accords, telling him Tony's motives and fears of a group of heroes that gets too much control and end up destroying the world. Steve also pondered on whether or not Tony was simply still in shock after what had happened with Ultron, that he never really got over it or tried to move on from his original failure to create a safe-keeping program to protect the entire world. The deaths still weighed on his mind along with the insecurity of not being enough against a bigger foe that may or may not exist out there in the universe, though instead of hurting him the way those things hurt the others (because the others did truly still remember everyone they had not managed to save), they hurt Tony in a way that created fear... and made him make stupid decisions.

"On the outside," pondered Sam, "Stark may be someone who is strong and powerful and without any care in the world, but on the inside, he's not much different than the rest of us."

"He's just scared…" breathed Maria, looking down at hers and Steve's intertwined fingers. "Doesn't mean it makes up for all the things he's done so far."

"Not to mention, he's got Wanda locked up in HQ," added Steve, earning an angered look from Maria.

" _What?_ " she asked.

"Apparently, it's for her own good. He sees her as a danger to the public because he's afraid the same thing is going to happen again…" breathed Steve, shaking his head. "She needs to practise, not stay locked up."

"Amen to that," added Sam.

"Okay, so we have two goals now," said Maria. "Get Bucky the hell out of here with us, and get Wanda out of her prison."

"I'm in," said Sam, earning a nod from Steve.

"First, how are _we_ going to get out of here?" asked Steve, gesturing around the glass-walls of the office through which the large amount of agents working could be seen.

"We could pretend to need to go to the bathroom?" joked Maria.

"You won't get out," said a fourth voice, surprising all three Avengers. "Not unless we manage to distract them all."

Sharon joined the three of them around the table, holding a few pieces of paper clutched against her chest, "Also, if you're going to plot to escape, maybe you should close the door."

Maria glanced at Sam who bit his lip and looked away, knowing full and well that he was the last person to enter.

"Now, the receipt for your gear," said Sharon, giving each of the three Avengers a piece of paper.

"'Bird Custome'?" read Sam, glaring over at Sharon.

"I didn't write it," excused Sharon.

"You better not have, he's very protective of his bird custome," teased Maria, earning a glare from Sam.

"It's not… a… bird custome…" tried Sam before realizing it truly looked like it.

"No, of course not, _Falcon_ ," teased Maria, earning a chuckle from Sharon.

The two women stared at each other in shock. Well, it was mostly Maria who stared at Sharon in shock while Sharon simply tried to offer her a smile; one that Maria was not returning. Steve sensed the tension and offered Maria a curious look, to which she shrugged and looked back down at her own gear's receipt. Whether she would ever start to like Sharon, she was unsure of. Though she could not deny the fact that without Sharon, they would most certainly not have gotten as far as they had gotten now, and Bucky would probably still not be in close-range to them. Then again, Bucky would also most likely never have been caught either, though Maria tried to deny that fact as things were better when Steve knew where his best friend was. After all, Bucky did need help to get back into his old self, and if Bucky was nowhere to be found, no one could help him. At least now, even though he was caged up at the moment, someone could get to him and help him.

At least now, Bucky was not alone anymore.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry this took a while, but here's the update! We recently moved, which is the reason for why it took so long... But I hope to get more regular updates for you all from now on.**

 **Love. Fiction .2017:** Gotta say, thank you for all the comments :D I do hope you also like this chapter :) and thanks for the support!

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 15**

* * *

"Bucky's getting interrogated now," said Sharon with a sigh.

"He didn't do it," argued Steve.

"Maybe not, but there are some pretty good pictures of him by the van, with the bomb," sighed Sharon before pulling out another piece of paper.

It was a fuzzy, pixelated picture of Bucky taken from a security camera from a building opposite of the one that had been bombed. It was clearly Bucky, yet there was something off about it.

"Okay, fine," began Maria. "It looks like Bucky, but come on. We found him in Bucharest only an hour or two after this picture was taken. How did he, a man without a private jet, get from Vienna to Bucharest that fast?"

Sharon looked down at the table in front of her, "You think I haven't thought of that? It's like my superiors are hellbent on getting Bucky behind bars."

"The same reason they want Wanda behind bars… Because he's a danger to society," thought Steve aloud.

"Something like that, yeah," sighed Sharon.

Steve suddenly furrowed his brow, "Was this photo released to the public? Was this how you got all those calls from people who thought they'd seen him?"

"Yeah."

"Why would the task force even begin to release this photo to the public?" asked Steve.

"Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?" suggested Sharon, unsure of where Steve was going with this.

"Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken…"

"It got 7 million people looking for the Winter Soldier."

"Yeah, but someone framed him for this… How else can he be in two places at once?" asked Maria.

"Guys, come on, we looked for the guy for 2 years and found nothing," said Sam. "Who cares, we finally found him!"

"He didn't bomb the UN," said Steve, agreeing with Maria. "That turns a lot of heads."

"Besides, he told us he didn't. And he looked rather sincere when he said so," added Maria.

"So? That doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him. It guarantees that we would," said Sharon, looking over at a nearby TV.

"Exactly," said Steve. "Who's down there with him now?"

"Just some guy sent to evaluate his psyche," said Sharon before looking around, pressing a button located in the middle of the table, turning on a screen showing Bucky in his cell with a desk and a chair in front of him holding a man who was indeed interrogating him.

They watched and listened for a while and although the interviewer seemed innocent, he was not really evaluating Bucky the way Maria had thought he would.

 _"Tell me, Bucky, you've seen a great deal, haven't you?"_

 _"I don't want to talk about it."_

 _"You feel that… if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop. Don't worry. We only have to talk about one."_

"What is that?"

Maria leaned in, narrowing her eyes as she tried to get a closer look at the small, red book the man had just taken out of his pocket. The way Bucky's face suddenly turned into one filled with fear made Maria tense up, the pain in her abdomen worsening as well.

A sudden muffled explosion rattled the glass walls of the office they were in before all the lights went off, including the TV screen Maria had been watching. Quickly, Steve stood up, placing an arm around Maria's waist out of protectiveness, keeping her close to him. She looked up at him with a sheepish look on her face, quietly asking her why he was protecting her when she was an Avenger like him. The look he gave in return was filled with emotions and worry, telling Maria just what she had been fearing from the beginning. He was worried about her due to her condition. Now, things might escalate from that worry until he lost his focus on the things at hand, something Maria did not want to happen. Carefully, she backed away from his grip, shaking her head at him.

A couple of agents entered the room, their gazes immediately locking with Sharon's.

"Stark's located the explosion. It's from Sub-level 5, east wing," said one of the agents.

"Okay, take your men and go there," said Sharon, standing up from her chair before looking over at the three Avengers. "You wanted a distraction… Well, you've got one now."

Without hesitating, Maria, Steve and Sam ran out of the office, leaving Sharon behind. They were on their way to Bucky, ready to bust him out and make a run for it. All Maria hoped was that things would go as smoothly as their plan seemed to be going, and that there wouldn't be any setbacks.

Boy would she be proved wrong.

As they ran down the stairs, they were met with even more chaos. Agents lay everywhere, either unconscious or in a critical state, all over the corridor leading to where Sharon said they were keeping Bucky. The steel door leading into the room, was broken in half and had literally been torn down by someone. Maria stepped in carefully behind Steve, coming face to face with yet another room filled with downed agents. The glass cage Bucky was kept in lay half broken in the middle of the room, and there was no sight of Bucky.

"Oh no…" breathed Maria.

"He wouldn't – He wouldn't do this. Not Bucky," breathed Steve, clearly upset about what he saw his best friend since childhood had done.

Maria placed a soothing hand on his arm.

"Maybe the Winter Soldier did," thought Sam aloud, glancing at Steve.

"The little red book?" asked Steve.

"Huh?" asked Maria, not following their train of thought.

Steve was about to answer, when they heard someone moaning in pain behind them. There, the interviewer who had pulled out the little red book was lying on the ground, muttering something under his breath as though he was in pain. Though Maria had seen pain before; true pain that she had been the cause of, and that was not someone in pain.

Steve stomped over to the man, clearly seeing the same thing as Maria, before lifting him up against the wall by the neck of his shirt.

"Who are you?" growled Steve menacingly, causing a slight tingle to appear in the pit of Maria's stomach to which she blushed. "What do you want?"

The man, who had been acting as though he was in pain, suddenly smirked, his act gone, "To see an empire fall."

The man's eyes lift up to look at something behind Maria. The shout of Sam calling Maria's name was heard, and before she could even react, something hard slammed against her head, knocking her out cold before she even hit the ground.

 _Pain reverberated through her stomach as she lay in darkness. She recognized this place as the same place she had visited when Wanda had gotten inside her head. A lamp turned on a few feet away from her, illuminating the floor. Groaning in pain, she crawled over to the light as though it was going to help her awaken again; as though it was the source of life. Though just as her fingertips were about to touch the light the lamp cast down on the floor, the lamp turned off with a small smash, casting some fireworks into the room. And before Maria knew it, she had fallen into a memory of her own._

 _Fireworks were heard outside. It was New Year's Eve. The clock sat above the kitchen table read 00:01 and although fireworks were lightening up the sky outside, filling the city with joy, there was no joy inside of Maria's house._

 _Maria, around the age of ten or younger, was sat at the kitchen table, her shaking hands holding a piece of paper. She felt some invisible force grab a hold of her stomach and throat, squeezing it until it physically hurt. Her world was falling apart around her, the floor on which she stood would soon be gone. The letter she was holding in her hands was telling her this – at least, it was telling her mother this. Maria had found the letter on the table earlier on when she had gone to the window to look at the fireworks. She had no friends to celebrate New Year's Eve with, nor did she, as far as she knew, have any relatives to celebrate it with. She was alone, as she always was during the holidays and all the other days during the year. She had an early shift at one of the more shady bars downtown the next morning, and she should be in bed, though she felt glued to that chair, staring at the letter._

 _They were being evicted._

 _Maria had not known she needed to pay rent. She had missed that part. Her mother was in no condition, as she had not been for the past couple of months, to pay any attention to things as important as rent, which was the reason for why Maria had tried to pay the bills that just kept coming in with whatever money she as a ten year old could scrape together. The shady people she met would not help her with this problem, she knew this, and so, she was doomed._

 _Her mother called out for her from the living room, causing the shaking Maria to finally let go of the letter. She walked over to the doorway, staring at the filthy couch where her mother lay half unconscious._

 _"Yes mother?"_

 _"… come…"_

 _Softly and carefully, she padded through the living room, careful not to step on any strange substances of needles._

 _"Give me that…"_

 _Maria stopped, staring at what her mother was pointing at. It was clear, due to the blood-shot eyes her mother was staring through, that she had already had enough. Though she still wanted more. More would be dangerous._

 _"Mother? We're… We're being evicted," said Maria._

 _For a while, her mother's eyes seemed to sober up. She looked at Maria with widened eyes before the glazed over look came back again._

 _"Give it to me."_

 _Her mother's harsh voice and dismissal for either of their well-being angered Maria. She had never really felt anger towards her mother before, always fear or pity. Though now, now that her world be turned upside down completely, now that she might have to live on the streets and her own mother did not care – anger was all Maria could feel._

 _She grabbed the black bag filled with more of the substances that made her mother sleep for hours without taking out the amounts that Maria knew would make sure her mother did not awaken. Her anger did either make her forget to do this, or make her want to do it. Though she was not sure. All she knew was, when her shaking petit hands handed over the black bag to her mother, she felt relieved._

"Maria!?"

 _Turning away from her mother, she entered the dark hallway leading to her bedroom, determined to finally get some rest. During the night, as she lay asleep, her mother began to shake terribly, before her heart gave in and her last breath left her lungs. Maria never made it to her early shift the following morning…_

"Maria!?"

With a jolt, Maria awoke from her unconsciousness, staring up at the dark eyes of Sam.

"Sam? Wha-What happened?" she asked, her feeling her head thud with each heartbeat.

"Bucky attacked. He's crazy," explained Sam.

"It's not Bucky…" defended Maria silently as Sam helped her to stand up. With a groan, she placed a hand against the part of her head that had been hit by something solid, though she soon found the faint feeling of coolness overtake the pain as she healed. "Where's Steve?"

"I don't know. I was knocked out too," sighed Sam. "That other dude's gone."

"Great… Well, our plan's changed," she sighed, earning a nod from Sam as he continued to listen to her orders. "Finding Steve is our priority. Then… We gotta get Bucky to stop. No matter what it takes."

"And get him out of here. Who knows what they'll do to him after all of… this," added Sam.

"Agreed. Let's go."


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay, I've moved houses now and I think I'm completely settled in and ready to truly start uploading more frequently.**

 **Many thanks to everyone who favorited and followed! And a special thanks to** ** _Love. Fiction .2017_ who also commented :) Means a lot to me!**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 16**

* * *

Finding Steve turned out to be less difficult then they originally thought. They had only taken two steps out of the interrogation room, before they heard a soft groan. It came from a dark elevator shaft, the doors having been opened by some unknown force. Peeking down it, Maria and Sam saw Steve lying down there, coming to after having been knocked out.

"Steve!" called Maria, causing him to look up. "Can you get up?"

"Uh, yeah… Just a moment," called Steve back, beginning to stand back up at his feet, seeming slightly wobbly. The fall must have been quite hard for him to have been knocked out, he was a Super Soldier after all and could take some more punches than Sam or Maria.

Said heroes backed away from the elevator shaft, giving Steve space to get out the way he could. They stood in silence, Maria looking around at the unconscious men around her. At least, she hoped they were unconscious. Who knew what it would do to Bucky if he found out that he had killed during his little rampage. Nevertheless, Maria was still not even sure if this wasn't Bucky himself. The screens had turned off before they could see what the interrogation man was going to do with the red book, and so Maria had no actual proof that this was not Bucky himself. Though she forced herself to believe Steve's intuition; that this was not Bucky himself doing this willingly. In a way, it could make sense. Who knew what Hydra's men were capable of doing to someone's brains. The things Maria had seen Hydra create; Zemo in the computer, the weapons they had created during the WWII, the clones of herself she had seen… There didn't seem to come an end to the horrible things Hydra were capable of.

Her train of thoughts were cut short as Steve climbed out of the elevator shaft, slightly out of breath. Either he jumped, or he climbed the entire way – whatever way he got up, Maria was impressed and the slight tingle in the pit of her stomach appeared again, making her blush once more.

"Bucky," he breathed.

"He could've taken two ways," sighed Sam. "Either he went right, or left."

"I'll go left. You two take right," ordered Steve, a serious expression on his face.

"You alright?" asked Maria quickly.

"Don't worry about me. Worry about getting out _with_ Bucky."

Nodding, Maria and Sam turned away from Steve, running down the corridor to the right. Steve's footsteps could be heard running away from them in the opposite direction. In silence, the two of them jogged down the corridor, jumping over the unconscious agents. However, there were not a lot of agents in their direction of the corridor, telling them both that they were running the wrong way and that Steve would be the first one to get to Bucky.

At the end of the corridor, it split into two. The two heroes stopped, slightly out of breath. Maria leaned against the wall, feeling the by now familiar pain in her stomach as she pushed her body even slightly. It was not unbearable though, which was the reason for why she snapped at Sam as he tried to ask her if she was alright.

"Let it go, Sam. I'm _fine_."

With a monotone expression on his face, Sam took a step away from her.

"We gotta split up," explained Sam quietly. "I'll go right."

"Okay, I'll take left," said Maria, pushing herself off of the wall and steadying herself on her feet.

"Are you sure…" he trailed off, looking at Maria with a worried look in his eyes.

Biting back another snappy comment, she tried a different approach instead, "Don't worry about me. I'll be alright," she said before placing a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Let's get to Bucky."

Sam nodded, seeming slightly more at ease with her calm endeavour about her own health, before he ran down the corridor. Sighing and placing a hand over her stomach, Maria turned the opposite way and began to jog again, though at a slower pace than while she had been jogging next to Sam.

Soon, she was met with a staircase leading up. She would not be surprise if Sam had been met with a staircase leading downstairs instead. Tensing up her hand that was over her stomach, she began to climb the stairs. As the muscles in her legs had to work harder and her breathing sped up, the pain in her stomach did too. Whatever the pain was, it was most certainly connected with her tiring herself out. Though why it was, she was not sure yet.

With each floor she reached, she walked through the doorway, listening for any commotion and checking for any unconscious agents, before continuing up the stairs. It took some time for her to do this, and ten minutes later, she ended up on the roof where a helipad existed. The pain in her stomach was beginning to become unbearable, though she still tried her best to stay upright and push on. Steve needed her. Bucky needed her. She could not give in now.

Luckily for her, the rooftop was just where she was supposed to be. At least, Steve and Bucky were up there. Unluckily for her, Bucky was almost getting away in a helicopter, while Steve –

She blinked twice at the scene before her. Bucky was indeed in the helicopter, trying to fly away with it. A helicopter weighed _a lot_ , yet somehow, Steve was **holding it with just one arm** , keeping the chopper from flying away from the building by was dangling dangerously over the edge. It took some time, but he finally managed to pull the helicopter back over the building using only his own strength.

The tingle in her stomach intensified at the sight before her. Though this time her cheeks flushed not because of a blush, but because her body temperature seemed to rise and her heartbeat quickened. She was paralyzed by the sight – until she caught sight of Bucky's glowering look just seconds before he turned the joystick to the other side, causing the helicopter to suddenly swivel towards Steve.

With a gasp, Maria lifted her hands as the helicopter's blades came dangerously close to Steve's head. He ducked even though he did not have to, as Maria had a hold of the blades, making sure none of them hit Steve as he ran away from the helicopter crashing and tumbling towards him. Not before the helicopter had stopped moving did Steve stop as well, glancing once over at Maria who knew she was paling after having used her powers; her stomach pain began to get worse again.

However the helicopter had landed on the building, it had not landed completely. A part of it was still over the edge, and the weight of it was beginning to pull the helicopter off the roof. To her horror, Bucky was still inside. She could only watch as Steve tried to get closer to the helicopter, though for once in his life, he was not fast enough. Taking a stance and readying herself for the pain she was about to feel, she lifted her hands once more and held onto the helicopter as much as she could. Much to her surprise, it stayed in one place, giving off strange cracks and creaks as it did. Never in her life had she been able to hold up something so big before with her own powers. She almost expected Wanda to be standing next to her, actually doing all the hard work, but she was not. This was all Maria's doing. And in a way, she felt proud about it even though the pain was intensifying with each second that passed.

Bucky glared over at her as Steve pulled him out, glancing back once at Maria with concerned eyes. Just as Bucky was safe, Maria's arms began to shake and the pain became too unbearable for her to stand. The helicopter glided off of the roof, falling somewhere below the building with a crash at the same time as Maria fell down to her knees, clutching the bottom of her stomach tightly.

For a while, the three of them simply stayed still, quietly listening to the echoes of the crash reverberating over the city. Though the moment they died down, Bucky turned and attacked Steve with a punch, which Steve blocked by grabbing the fist in his own hand. With a swift movement, Steve had grabbed a hold of Bucky's head, said something quietly to Bucky, before slamming Bucky's head down against the concrete roof they were standing on. Bucky was out cold almost immediately and Steve let go of his friend with a sigh.

Although she was weak, Maria stood up and, while falling over a couple of times, made her way over to Steve. He caught her as she fell over at the spot, holding her up.

"You hit him…"

"Cognitive re-calibration," smiled Steve.

Maria smiled back. "We got him…" she said quietly.

"We still gotta get out of here without them noticing it," sighed Steve, gently brushing a stray strand of hair away from face.

"Sharon?" suggested Steve.

"I don't want to do that to her," he said, igniting a horrid fire inside of Maria which she almost immediately turned off again, knowing jealousy was useless at the moment. "But, there are plenty of unconscious agents downstairs…"

"Yes?" she asked, not fully following him.

"They won't miss their clothes."

* * *

With Steve carrying both Bucky and a bag, the two of them slowly made their way down the stairs. Slowly; because Maria could barely take a step without her knees giving in. Though Steve could not carry both Bucky and her and she had forced Steve to let her try on her own.

They were not stressed about anyone finding out that they were who they were, as all three of them were now wearing the SWAT clothing that some of the agents were wearing. Maria had kept on her underwear, which made the SWAT suit shave uncomfortably, while Steve had kept on at least his shirt. Seeing as it had been slightly uncomfortable for either of them to remove Bucky's clothing while he was unconscious, they had simply tried their best to find the agent who had the biggest size in clothing so they could put the swat suit on over Bucky's outfit.

Halfway down, they met up with Sam who, at first, had tried to fight them off, thinking they were going to arrest him. Though when Maria revealed her face, he smirked and congratulated them on the good plan as there were too many agents outside of the building for them to get past. Sam quickly got changed as well, putting his clothing in the bag with Steve's and Maria's, and soon, the three (or four) of them had managed to get outside.

"Is he okay?" asked an agent who approached the three of them, indicating to the hurt Bucky that Steve was carrying over his shoulder.

"Not really. Ambulance?" asked Steve, keeping it short as he did not want the agent to recognize Captain America's voice.

"Over there," replied the agent, pointing over his shoulder, a couple more agents passing them by with their weapons drawn, ready to go into the building.

Several ambulances were placed around the building, behind the large blockade of police cars and CIA cars. There, Tony and Natasha were stood, one of the paramedics checking out Tony's wrist. Suddenly feeling worried for her friend, Maria led the group towards him, ignoring Sam and Steve's warnings.

"Excuse me, sir," said Maria, making sure her voice was a tad lower than usual, and that she was using a more posh accent. "Injured coming through."

Tony and Natasha took a step to the side as the paramedic helped the disguised Bucky into the vehicle, placing him down on a cot in there.

"You okay, sir?" asked Maria, quickly closing the doors to the ambulance as Steve and Sam knocked out the paramedic as silently as they could, moving him out of the vehicle to another close-by ambulance.

"I've had worse," was Tony's simple reply, obviously not in the mood to talk to an agent.

Maria nodded, her worry soothed. She began to make her way over to the front of the vehicle, though her knees buckled in underneath of her and she nearly fell, catching herself on the side of the car.

"Are you?" asked Tony.

Maria placed a hand over her stomach again, glancing back over her shoulder at Tony and Natasha. The look on Natasha's face was enough for Maria to realize that she knew, though Tony did not. Giving Natasha a pleading look, she turned away.

"I've had worse," replied Maria before entering the passenger's seat of the ambulance, seeing Sam already seated behind the wheel. "Let's go."


	17. Chapter 17

**Two big things happening in this chapter. Or rather, two big reveals... Hope you like it! Also, this is a rather long chapter, sorry to everyone who doesn't like longer chapters ':D**

 **Once again, thanks to everyone who followed and favorited!**

 **Love . Fiction .2017:** :)

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 17**

* * *

Leaving the premises, Sam turned on the ambulance's sirens to make it look like they were truly leaving to take the guard, or rather the disguised and unconscious Bucky, to the hospital. Though they quickly shut it off again when they were far away enough for the soldiers not to hear them.

Finally being able to relax, Maria took off the helmet, combing her fingers through her tangled hair before turning around to look at Steve and Bucky.

"How's he doing?" asked Maria.

"Still asleep. We gotta find a safe-spot before he wakes up though. I'm not sure if the cognitive re-calibration worked…" answered Steve, having taken off his helmet as well.

Maria smirked, "I understood that reference."

Steve bit his lip while trying not to laugh, knowing it was not the time and place to do so as they were still on the run. Though he could not hide the smile and the glimmer of amusement in his eyes as he looked over at Maria, "And I understood that one."

"Can ya'll stop flirting and tell me what the hell cognitive re-calibration means?" asked Sam, keeping his eyes on the road.

"He hit Bucky really hard on the head," shrugged Maria, winking at Steve before sitting back down in her seat.

She heard some shuffling from behind her and found Steve's head suddenly poking out in between their seats, looking at the road.

"I was thinking an abandoned building. Though… It might be too cliché and end up being the first place they look for us," sighed Sam.

"They'll be busy fixing what was damaged… I don't think they've noticed yet," replied Maria, shaking her head. "I vote for abandoned building."

"At least until sleeping beauty back there wakes up," added Sam before Maria turned her head to look at Steve.

"Steve?"

"Sounds good. But I won't risk staying there longer than necessary," sighed Steve.

"What's the plan now, by the way?"

"We're fugitives… We can't bring Wanda along. The kid's just a kid. We'd ruin her life," said Sam.

"On the other hand," argued Maria, "If she stays locked up like that, her life will be ruined too."

"I agree. I'm not one for letting anyone be without their freedom," agreed Steve. "I say, we see what the deal is with Bucky and then we get Wanda."

They drove for an hour, getting to the outskirts of the city. There were not many abandoned buildings, though after a while, they did find one that looked particularly creepy and completely empty. It had three stores, yet none of the levels had any windows. Whether the windows had been broken by someone or whether the weather had taken them out, Maria was unsure of. All she knew was that it smelled of murky substances and marijuana in there.

They left the ambulance a few blocks away from the abandoned warehouse, keeping it intact so that, whoever found it, could return it without finding anything missing. Then, they carried Bucky all the way to the building, scaring a few homeless people in the process as they most certainly looked like a gang who had just murdered someone, before removing his outfit and leaving him in his usual jeans and red shirt, sat up in one of the rooms. Afraid that he might lash out again once he woke up, they pinned his metal arm in an industrial vice so that he would not be able to move at least that arm; the most dangerous arm. Though they kept the rest of this limbs unattached to anything, not wanting to give Bucky the signal that he was their prisoner either.

Once more dressed in their normal clothes, albeit they were a bit dirty now, Steve, Maria and Sam stood in front of Bucky, watching him with uncertain eyes. Not uncertain because of who they were watching, but uncertain because they did not know what to do next. Finally, Sam spoke up.

"I'll keep an eye on him. We'll take shifts," said Sam, positioning himself in the doorway. "Get some rest."

Maria scowled at him as he looked at her when saying the last part. Though she could not deny the fact that she was completely done with everything. Her legs felt as if they could give in any second, and although the pain in her stomach had subdued once more, her body ached from lack of water and sleep.

Steve followed Maria to a nearby corner, away from the room Bucky was in and away from Sam. She let herself glide down along the wall until she was in a sitting position, her knees curled up against her chest. Steve watched her for a while before kneeling down in front of her.

"You… You don't have to come with us."

Maria wanted to glare up at him; wanted to tell him to bugger off and that she was strong enough to stay by his side… Though she couldn't. She felt so fragile, so weak… She felt pathetic.

Her eyes rimmed with tears and she looked away from him, letting out a dry chuckle, "God, do I wish I could…"

"Why can't you?" asked Steve.

She kept staring at the wall opposite of them, avoiding to look at Steve, "I promised you I would stay by your side… That I would help you find Bucky and stand by your side no matter what. I can't just break that vow."

"You can if it means you'll be okay," pressed Steve before shifting. One of his hands gently pressed against her cheek, guiding her face back to look at him. A lone tear slipped down her cheek, which his thumb quickly wiped away. His compassionate eyes looked down at him, gently coaxing her to do as he pleaded. Though she shook her head at him.

"I can't. I have to stay with you."

"Alright," he sighed, smiling gently at her. "I can't say I'm complaining. But… Try to stay out of fights. Each time you use your powers-"

"It gets worse, I know. But I always bounce back again. It's just… I'm just weak. And I don't know why," sighed Maria.

"Weak? You just held an entire chopper with your powers… But I understand what you mean."

Steve shifted again, sitting down next to Maria and gently putting an arm around her shoulders. Her hand found his, and they intertwined their fingers together as she rested her head against his chest.

"I don't know what will happen now… I don't know where we'll end up. And I know this is not the conventional way to do it, but I figured that I had already done it the conventional way once…"

A smile crept up on her lips as Steve shifted slightly, pulling something out of his pocket. She could feel him tense up, unsure of what her answer would be. Though she already knew. The way his arm around her felt as protecting as ever, the way she could not bear the thought of not being by his side and help him… What would the reason have been to say no?

In two of his fingers, he held up the engagement ring he had given to her over a year prior to that very moment. She had always wondered where it had gone, worried she might have lost it in the ocean when she had died. There was something odd about seeing it there in his hand. It looked so tiny compared to his fingers, so precious and fragile. Though she figured that was what their relationship had been before; fragile and precious. Now, they had gone through everything a couple could go through, and they were still sure of their choice. Now, that ring did not represent a fragile relationship anymore…

"Did you even have to ask?" she whispered, holding out her hand and giggling as she felt him relax.

He fumbled slightly when putting on the ring, having only one hand to do it as the other one was still keeping Maria close to him, though eventually, it was back on her finger. And now, the ring did not look so fragile anymore. Now, it strengthened her and her decision to stay with him.

"What made you ask again?" wondered Maria, staring down at the ring and their once more intertwined hands.

"I've wanted to ask since you returned back from, uh, the dead. But I couldn't… Things were a bit-"

"A bit shitty… Yeah."

Steve chuckled at her words before continuing, "But then you came back again… I got to hold you again… And just now, when you told me your reason for going through all this pain… I just knew."

She felt him nuzzle into the crook of his neck, placing a soft kiss to her shoulder, and she smiled while leaning into his kiss.

"I love you…" she whispered, straightening up slightly so their cheeks touched, their heads leaning in against each other.

"I love you too…" he whispered back, tightening his grip on her.

"I suppose congratulations are in order?"

The sudden voice caused both Steve and Maria to jump, though mostly Maria. The shock of Sam's sudden presence made Maria's body tense up, and a seer of pain flared through her stomach and down her legs. She groaned, placing a hand over her stomach while curling in against Steve, letting the wave of pain pass quietly.

"Sorry…" sighed Sam, kneeling down in front of Maria while Steve simply stayed quiet, tensing up again and gently placing his hand over hers on her stomach. "But… He's awakening."

* * *

"Steve…" breathed Bucky.

The three heroes had been watching him wake up. The first thing the poor man had noticed was his arm stuck in the vice, and Maria hoped that he did not feel any pain. Then, his eyes had flickered up towards Sam and Maria, his eyebrows furrowed even though he seemed to recognize them slightly. Though it had not been until his eyes had locked with Steve's that he had begun to speak.

"Which Bucky am I talking to?" asked Steve, causing Bucky to look away, a pained expression in his eyes.

"Your mom's name was Sarah. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes," mumbled Bucky, the faintest hint of a smile appearing on his lips as he remembered that last part and Maria relaxed, knowing now that it was the real Bucky, and not the Winter Solider they were talking to.

"Can't read that in a museum," said Steve, earning a nod from Maria.

Sam scoffed, "Just like that, we're suppose to be cool?"

"What did I do?" asked Bucky, reading Sam's anger correctly.

"Enough," breathed Steve, shaking his head.

"Oh God…" mumbled Bucky, looking away again, tears appearing in his eyes. He was indeed not faking his remorse, and Maria felt sorry for the man. At least Maria had made the choice when killing all those people for Hydra… Bucky had not had a choice, apparently. "I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words."

"Who was he?" asked Steve.

"I don't know," replied Bucky with a shake of his head.

"People are dead. The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than 'I don't know'," pressed Steve.

Bucky shook his head, staring back up at Steve, "He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where."

"Why?" asked Maria, causing Bucky's eyes to flicker to hers for a second before he once more looked away from everyone, seeming ashamed.

"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier…"

"There's more Hydra Super Soldiers?" asked Maria worriedly.

"Four men, one woman. I… I stole the formula… I stole it from Stark – Oh, God, Steve… I killed Stark…"

Maria glanced at Steve who tensed up his jaw, a muscle jumping.

"You didn't," said Maria, shaking her head. "The Winter Soldier did. They made you."

"But still… He was my friend," sighed Bucky.

"Who were they?" asked Steve.

"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in Hydra history. And that was before the serum."

"They all turn out like you?" asked Sam, earning a shake of Bucky's head.

"Worse… They could barely be controlled by Hydra back then. I don't know what they did with them…"

"The doctor with the red book, could he control them?" asked Steve.

"Enough," agreed Bucky.

"Said he wanted to see an empire fall…"

"With these guys he could do it. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night. You'd never see them coming," informed Bucky, a worried look on his face.

"He could destroy the world…" breathed Maria.

"This would have been a lot easier a week ago," said Sam, stepping over to Steve. "When the Avenger's was still a team."

"If we call Tony…"

"No, he won't believe us," sighed Sam.

"Even if he did…"

"Who knows if the Accords would let him help," scoffed Sam, shaking his head.

"We're on our own," deduced Steve with a sigh.

"We need more people. This is a threat to the world. Ultron was difficult with our whole team… Imagine… Imagine this." Maria's voice was shaking slightly.

"We need a team," confirmed Sam. "I know a guy."

"Clint could help… For his family, he would give up retirement."

"Wanda would also help us," said Steve.

"Okay… So, our next step is to gather the team."

"I'll call Clint, he can pick up my guy on the way along with Wanda," said Sam, earning a nod from Steve before he left to find a phone.

Maria and Steve turned back to Bucky who was still, patiently, sitting with his arm stuck in the vice.

"Will you help us?" asked Steve.

For a while, Maria was sure that Bucky was going to say no. She could see his head faintly shake, his eyes darting around the room as he thought about the proposition. Steve most certainly picked up on his hesitance and began to try and convince him, telling Bucky that it would be like in the past, back when it was Steve and Bucky fighting together during the war. Though it was not helping at all.

 _It's not like back then… Bucky had never killed for Hydra then,_ thought Maria, watching the two men cautiously.

"Do it to prove that you're not what they created."

The words shocked both Bucky and Steve, probably because in reality, Maria had nothing to do with Bucky's decision. She was not his friend and Bucky did not know her. Though, in that room, Maria was the only one out of the two who had worked for Hydra; _killed_ for Hydra. She was the one who had pulled away from that life on her own. She was the one who knew what Bucky was going through.

"Do it to prove to yourself you're not what they created."

Bucky watched her with hesitant eyes, "You're Miss Dalton, right?"

Maria swallowed thickly as she realized Bucky knew about her due to her past. Though she pushed past her fears and doubts and took a step forwards, nodding her head.

With a smile, she showed to Bucky the ring Steve had just given her, "Soon to be known as Mrs Rogers."

Bucky stared long and hard at the ring, and Maria kept her hand there, visible and steady. Steve was watching, catching Maria's eye from time to time.

"I've broken free… I'm not what they created-"

"They didn't brainwash you though."

"No… But they used me…"

"Artur did. I know…" mumbled Bucky, his eyes looking back towards his metal arm stuck in the vice.

Glancing once towards Steve, Maria walked forwards and opened the vice, freeing his arm. Bucky seemed slightly shocked, though still retrieved his arm, moving his metallic fingers around as though they were stiff from having been in that position for so long. Then his eyes looked up at Maria, seeing the same uncertain eyes that she had first been met with when she met Steve Rogers, the man out of time.

She reached out her hand to him and, after some seconds of hesitation, he took it with his one good hand and stood up from the chair. He stared into her eyes for a while, letting go of her hand, before turning to look at Steve.

"I'll help."

Steve smiled, placing a brotherly hand on his shoulder, "I knew you would."

"So… Who's going to join?"

Steve and Maria spent the next couple of minutes explaining the concept of the Avengers to Bucky; who the people were and not just what the Winter Soldier had heard from Hydra files, and what had happened lately. Bucky seemed sorry that things had gone downhill, noting too that both Steve and Maria's eyes lightened up when they spoke about the Avengers, though he did not seem that interesting in the smaller civil war that was taking place in the team. Instead, he seemed more interested in their achievements as a team, not to mention that he seemed interested in Asgard once Maria had told him about that.

"A metal man?"

"A robot. Like in one of those pictures we used to watch back in the days at the local cinema. Just… Much realer," joked Steve.

They had sat down on the murky floor in the same corner Maria and Steve had gotten engaged in, sitting in a ring while talking and reminiscing.

"Strange… And Stark – uh, Stark's son made _it_?" asked Bucky, furrowing his brow. "I knew he could do much… but… wow…"

Maria smiled, "Yeah, that's Stark for you."

Footsteps were heard entering the building, and soon Sam appeared, out of breath. All three tensed up at the sight of him, though he held up his hands to calm them down, "Don't worry, I'm just no super soldier and get out of breath when running down four damn blocks to get to a pay-phone…"

He leaned forwards, putting his hands on his knees as he took deep breaths.

"And?" asked Steve. "What did Clint say?"

"He's helping. He figured he can't enjoy retirement all that much when the world is being taken over by crazed super soldiers."

"He'll get Wanda?"

"Yup," replied Sam, straightening back up, "And he's bringing the guy I told you about too. And all of their gear."

"Where to?" asked Bucky, earning a swift glance from Sam before he looked over his head towards Maria and Steve.

"Berlin Airport… We figured we gotta get to Switzerland before the doc."

"We'll be sitting ducks there though," said Maria worriedly. "The CIA will figure we'll try to leave the country… They'll be waiting for us."

"All hell's going to break loose if Stark and the others are sent over there to apprehend us," realized Steve before sighing. "We'll have to deal with that if it happens."

"And if it happens," added Maria, "we'll need our gear."

"Great… The CIA have our gear…"

"Sharon," said Steve, smiling. "I'll see if I can get to her. Where's the pay-phone?"

"Take a right and then just run until you see it," explained Sam.

"While you're out there… We're going to need a car to drive to the airport," said Maria, giving him a pitying look. "Sorry, I know you don't like stealing."

"Borrowing," corrected Steve as he stood up, "otherwise I won't be able to do it."

"As long as we don't have to run anywhere," sighed Sam as Steve passed him by, exiting the building.

An awkward silence fell over the three heroes left. It would not have been awkward, had Sam not acted so strange towards Bucky. Maria knew why, of course, and couldn't help but understand – Bucky had, after all, tried to end his life several times already now and obviously not made the best of first impressions on Sam. But Bucky was a part of their team now, and Maria could not help but feel like Sam could at least try to forgive him for Steve's sake.

Trying her best to not show her discomfort, she smiled up at Sam, not missing the fact that Bucky evidently turned his back on Sam to face Maria completely.

"You wanna join us? The floor may be dirty but… it's… uh, okay?"

Sam promptly ignored her request and sat down a few meters away from them, picking on a rusty nail he had found in the wall. Maria glanced at him and back to Bucky, who stayed as quiet as he could, barely moving. From one of the holes in the walls that used to be a window, some sunlight shone through and was reflected off of Bucky's arm. It hit Maria on the arm, though it did not warm up the tension in the room the way it warmed up her arm. She sighed, knowing it would be a long couple of minutes until Steve returned again.

Her stomach churned suddenly as Steve's smile after he mentioned Sharon's name flashed before her eyes. Jealousy entered her heart and she frowned… Though she soon realized that the frown was not because of the jealousy, and that the weird feeling in her stomach was not because of it either.

"Oh God…" she breathed, quickly standing up with a hand over her mouth as bile rose up.

Stumbling and staggering, she made her way outside before promptly throwing up whatever she had gotten to eat that day. Once it was out, everything became worse. There was no pain, but she felt even weaker than she had before. Her knees were shaking and the world felt far away. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a homeless woman scowling at her before leaving her sight. With shaking hands, Maria pushed back her hair, moving away from the puddle on the floor.

"M…" breathed Sam, having followed her outside. He placed his hands on her shoulders, steadying her. "Damn… That's kinda nasty."

"Lead me inside," breathed Maria, her hands gripping his shirt as her knees buckled. Sam quickly grabbed her around the waist, doing as she had requested with a hard look on his face; one she recognized from Steve when he got into his military mode.

Still shaking feverishly, Sam let her slide down the wall in the corner again until she was sitting down. Her head was resting against the wall and she saw Sam sitting down next to her, his hand still on her shoulder. Bucky was staring at her, clearly confused and worried.

"She was fine a minute ago…" he said shakingly.

"M, please… Seek help from a doctor-"

"I'll be arrested the moment I show my face in public. I have to stay with Steve…"

"Is she sick?"

"No, she's-"

"I'm fine," shot Maria, giving Sam a glare before her facial expressions softened, her energy barely being enough to even care that Sam was worried about her.

"You're not. M, I gotta tell you something. Remember back at the CIA base? When they checked your vitals and stuff? Well, when you ran out, Nat made me stay behind to look at the results. M, listen to me when I say this… Your body healed itself after that fall...

"M…

"You _are_ pregnant."


	18. Chapter 18

**Really happy everyone seemed to enjoy the last chapter! :D Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint anyone :)**

 **Thanks to everyoe who followed and favorited. A special thanks to you three who reviewed :D**

 **Guest:** Thank you so much for your kind comment! I try to stay dedicated to this story as best as I can and it means a lot to me that people notice it too :D

 **Love . Fiction . 2017:** Yay! Thanks! :D

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* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 18**

* * *

It was different when Sam told her she was pregnant. Not because of who the person was that was telling her, (no, she would trust Natasha with her life) but because of the fact that Sam had actually seen the results of her bloodwork that told him just that. It was hard to argue and distrust those kind of facts.

"Nobody tells him."

Bucky and Sam stared at her, Sam surprised that Maria had no other reaction, while Bucky seemed horrified to be close to someone pregnant.

"Are you insane?"

"No. But I know that he will go insane after he hears that I'm _still_ going to stick with him until this is all over."

"You can't-"

"He's going to have that exact face," spat Maria, pointing at Sam who rolled his eyes, "Just ten times worse… Please… I have to do this. Where am I supposed to go otherwise? Sit and just wait in this corner until everything's fine? No! When I decided to use my fighting abilities for the greater good, I made a silent promise to do it until I can't do it anymore. And seeing as I am still breathing, I will finish this mission. This ring was given to me because I wanted to be by Steve's side the rest of my life." At this point, Maria was vigorously pointing towards the engagement ring on her finger. "I'm doing both no matter what you all think."

"You're putting yourself in danger, and the baby… You're being self-centric. It's not like you, Maria," pleaded Sam. "Please… This is all you've ever wanted, right? Then stick with it. Make sure you get to keep this peace of wonderfulness-"

"Why am I so sick and in pain if I'm pregnant?"

Another silence appeared, broken only by Sam's sigh.

"There's… There's some reasons. But the main reason behind those… reasons, are still uncertain. Natasha had an idea, though."

"Yeah?"

"You can't tell Steve."

Bucky straightened up, looking quite curious about what else they were going to keep from Steve.

"It's, uh, the serum. The child… Your body can heal, right? Nat thought that the baby may be slightly, uh, stronger than other children may be. It might be… too strong for your body. Steve needs to eat a lot, and so does the baby. Your body is protecting it, giving it all it can, but harming itself in the process. That's why you're weak. You're basically missing out on everything your body needs to survive because it's giving it to the baby while at the same time healing itself…"

"Why does it hurt? And when I use my powers, why does it hurt then?" asked Maria.

"I don't know, Maria. That was all Natasha managed to say to me before I left. I just wanted to make sure you were okay… I'm sorry."

Maria looked away from Sam, taking in everything she had just heard. She had an explanation for the strange way she had been feeling and she had, sort of, an explanation for the pains. But it was an explanation that she never thought she would ever hear. She was _pregnant_... A soon-to-be-mother… She had never thought it would ever happen. She had thought her body was broken…

"Congratulations," said Bucky sheepishly, causing her to look over at him.

A soft sob escaped her lips, causing Bucky's face to fall into one of worry, before she suddenly flung herself over towards Bucky, hugging him closely. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and before she knew it, she had grabbed Sam as well, hugging them both tightly as she swayed back and forth.

"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me…" she sobbed.

"Hormones…" muttered Sam, trying to get away from Bucky as best as he could, though he could not keep away the smile that spread over his lips at Maria's happiness.

"Now, more than ever, do I have to stay with Steve… I can't be separated from him," said Maria with a shaky voice as she let go of the two men. "Who knows how long this civil war crap will go on… We need to stick together."

"I do agree," said Steve's voice, causing everyone to gasp. "Being together is the only thing we can do."

He walked around the corner, a pleased look on his face which disappeared the moment he saw Maria's tears.

"Why are you crying?" he asked quickly, crouching down in front of her.

Her heart ached to tell him, though she knew better and simply hugged him, nearly causing him to fall over. From the corners of her eyes she saw Bucky still in the same position as when she had hugged him, looking completely horrified and shocked, barely even blinking. She laughed at him, nuzzling into Steve's shoulder as he tightened his grip on her.

"What happened when I was away?"

"Everything…" she breathed before letting go of Steve. "I love you."

Steve was slightly shocked at the words, neither of them having actually showed affection in front of anyone before. Though he still smiled and repeated the words before wiping away her tears.

"I've got a car waiting outside. Sharon's going to meet us in twenty minutes just outside of here underneath of that large overpass we crossed earlier. She'll have our things."

"Good," sighed Sam. "We'll need them."

"Help me up," sighed Maria, holding out a hand for Steve who helped her, a worried look on his face.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just… tired." She smiled at him, pecking his cheek in cheer happiness.

"Okay, whatever happened here – I like it," declared Steve, causing Maria to chuckle.

With still shaking knees, even though she was by now unsure of whether it was the baby, or the surprise of actually being pregnant that was making her knees act like that, Steve helped her sit down in the front seat of the small car he had stolen. Sam and Bucky watched before both glancing at each other and then the car.

"You could have stolen a bigger car…"

" _Borrowed…_ This was the only one I thought would not be missed," admitted Steve, shrugging as he closed Maria's car-door and shutting out the rest of the conversation for Maria to hear… until Sam and Bucky both tried their best to sit down in the back.

"We're not going to fit in the back…"

"You want Maria to have to sit in the back?"

A silence ensued before the men gave up and entered the car.

With each man that entered the car, the entire poor thing shuddered slightly under their weight. Someone's knee was pushed into the back of Maria's seat and she quickly adjusted her seat to give the person more space.

"Can you move over?" asked Bucky.

"No." Maria had to bite her lip at the blunt answer. Although she still did not like the fact that Sam was having so much problem with adjusting to Bucky, them acting like two children was rather funny at least.

Steve sat down, the car shuddering again before he closed the door, starting up the engines.

"You know," began Maria, her voice weak, "This might just be a car from your time."

Steve shot her an amused look before driving off, the car's engine giving off strange noises. As she glanced at the sideway mirror, she was sure that she saw black smoke behind their vehicle.

"Yep, no one's going to miss this car…" muttered Sam, voicing what Maria had been thinking, just in a slightly less positive way.

Twenty minutes later, the four heroes had arrived underneath the overpass where Sharon was going to meet them. They parked and waited silently, nobody saying anything. Maria leaned her head against the dirty window on her side, staring up at the highway above them. How different life would have been had she been one of the people sitting in one of those cars, speeding down the road without a care in the world. Steve would know about the baby, they would maybe be driving to buy a crib or some other baby stuff… Things would be so different, had the Accords never been introduced to them; had Stark never let his fears and insecurities get the better of him.

Though she did not hate Stark, not even dislike him. Everyone was entitled to their own opinions, no matter how much they differed from another's. Not to mention that Stark had helped her get rid of the life she used to live. Had it not been for Tony, Maria would maybe never have gotten the job to clean his toilets, which would have caused Maria to not earn enough money to help her grandmother. That in turn might have caused Maria to go down a darker path once more…

She shivered at the thought, glancing back at the two men sitting behind her. Sam nodded at her, giving her an impatient face while Bucky simply looked away from her. Slowly, she turned her head to Steve who was staring ahead of him.

Her heart swooned with an overwhelming ache to tell him the truth, to get it out there and let him know what was in store for them… The ring around her finger burned, knowing that, by keeping it from him, she was breaking silent rules of the bond that the engagement ring symbolized. Though by telling him the truth, she might not be allowed to stay by his side through this whole ordeal, and although she was afraid of hurting the baby, she desperately wanted to help Steve fight these Villainous Super Soldiers…

"There she is," mumbled Steve, breaking the silence as he stared at something approached them via the rear-view mirror.

The soft rumbled of a car approaching was heard and soon, a much fancier and newer car passed them by before parking in front of them. Sharon, her blonde hair flowing beautifully, stepped out of the car, turning to Steve. Much to Maria's discomfort, Steve nearly fell out of the car, seeming way too excited to be meeting with Sharon again.

He left the car door open and the stench of gasoline coming from the highway above them burned Maria's nostrils almost as much as the jealousy and worry hurt Maria's heart as she saw Steve and Sharon talk. He smiled, chuckled and conversed with her as though they had known each other all their lives. He was allowed to be friends with other women no matter how much Maria disliked them… But there was something about the hasty progress of their relationship that just made Maria boil with hatred.

Nausea hit her like a car and Maria stumbled out of it, walking away from it and Steve. The sound of a car door creaking open caught her ears, though she did not look back. Instead, she made her way over to a small, disgusting looking pond, staring at the rubbish people had thrown out of their cars and that, miraciously, had landed in the pond, with monotone eyes.

Someone appeared next to her, startling her slightly as she had not heard any footsteps. Though the swift shine of something metal told Maria who it had been before she turned her head to look at him.

"It's always strange when you've missed someone, watched someone die, and then find out they're not completely dead but live on in someone else. I doubt Steve knows what he's feeling. I doubt he even feels anything. He's just… mourning."

Maria sighed, putting her hands in the pockets of her pullover. "I guess… I mean, he never really got the time to mourn. She died only a couple days ago."

This time it was Bucky's turn to let out a sigh and as Maria glanced over at him, she saw the grief in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, you knew her too of course."

"It doesn't matter… To her, I was dead. And I'd rather keep it like that." He glanced over at her, their eyes meeting briefly.

"They brainwashed you and they manipulated me… Fuck Hydra, man…"

Bucky chuckled, surprising Maria slightly. It was the first time she had ever seen him even smile.

"I admire you." Again, Maria felt surprised. Who was this person standing next to her? Just minutes ago he had looked completely horrified about being close to her; a pregnant woman… Now… "You got away."

"You're getting away too." She shivered, looking away from Bucky. "You can do the same things I've done. It doesn't erase the past – nothing erases the past. You'll always having it hanging above you like a cloud of dust. But… you'll get away. Steve will help. I will help. And no matter what Sam says right now, he will help too."

"I really do admire you."

Maria looked down at her feet, her shoulders tensing up. She didn't deserve his admiration.

Footsteps approached and Bucky turned around. As his metal arm turned towards Maria, he moved away from her a bit extra. She looked at him with sympathy, realizing how awful it must be to live with something attached to you which you cannot trust, something that was given to you by the enemy to do horrible things with, while you at the same time cannot live without it.

"We've got all the equipment from Sharon. Everyone ready to start driving over to the airport?"

Bucky glanced over at Maria before passing Steve by. At the lack of answer, Steve walked over to Maria and looked at her. His face was riddled with worry and at the look, she just couldn't stay jealous.

"I just needed some air," breathed Maria, glancing down at her shoes.

"How are you feeling?" asked Steve quietly, glancing back at Bucky who was leaning against the trunk of the car, watching Sam as he carefully inspected his wings to make sure no one had hurt them.

"Fine… The pain stays subdued when I'm not doing anything… But I still feel weak."

A gentle hand was pressed against her shoulder and she looked up at him, "Is-Is there something you're keeping from me?" Maria's eyes widened involuntarily at his words. "We've known each other for quite some time, I know when something's weighing you down."

"It's nothing," she breathed, trying her best to act normal again.

"If it's Sharon –"

"No, I understand. Bucky – he talked to me about it. It's… not that," said Maria before shaking her head, "If I say that when the time is right I will tell you, would you trust me?"

Steve stayed silent at her words, grasping her hand and running a finger over the engagement ring, "What do you think?"

Maria smiled, squeezing his hand, "Then I will tell you when the time is right. And in the meantime, I promise to you that I will not in any way endanger it…"

Steve frowned at her words, clearly curious about what she meant by that. Though she simply smiled and leaned up, pressing her nose against his, "I love you."

A smile appeared on his lips.


	19. Chapter 19

**Another filler-chapter. Action scenes always take a long time for me to write as there's a lot going on and what not. But we're nearly at the end, so I'm gonna go for it the upcoming week so that I have an update ready for the weekend :)**

 **Once more, thanks to everyone who favorited and followed!**

 **Love . Fiction . 2017:** Thanks! :D

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 19**

* * *

The four heroes were two hours away from the airport, though it took them a little longer to get there seeing as they could not take the normal roads in case they were seen. Knowing it would take Clint some time to get to Germany with Wanda and Sam's secret guy, Steve parked a few blocks away from the airport out of sight from anyone so the four of them could get some sleep. Before night fell, however, Sam made sure to buy some food seeing as none of them had gotten much to eat since they had found Bucky. Luckily, the place Sam had gone to had seemed a bit shady, and he assured everyone that no one there either recognized him or would snitch on them.

They took turns keeping watch, in case a police car pulled up or someone else who could snitch. The past day, their faces had been all one could see on the TV and their names were mentioned everywhere. They had to stay out of sight until everything was done. And even after that, Maria had to make sure they still stayed out of sight. She was not that keen on letting her child get born in prison, or with its father in prison.

Then again, what sort of life would the child have if it had to be born while they were all on the run?

Thoughts like those and thoughts about how she would be able to fight and help Steve without getting herself hurt were racing through her mind, keeping her up as she rested her head against Steve's chest, his arm around her to keep her warm and safe. Her eyes were wide open, while Steve was asleep. Sam was the one on watch at the moment, which gave Bucky all the space (not that there was much) in the back to lay down and relax. Though through the rear-view mirror, she could see Bucky wasn't sleeping either; his eyes were wide open as he stared up at the roof of the car.

Although she was comfy enough where she was lying, resting against her soon-to-be husband, her legs were starting to get restless due to her not sleeping and simply staying in one position for no real reason. With a sigh, she carefully pried herself out of Steve's grasp, causing him to stir slightly, his eyes opening. She simply smiled and shushed him back to sleep before carefully exiting the car, not closing the door completely in fear that it might wake him up again.

"It's been two hours already?" asked Sam from where he was sitting on the hood of the car. She walked over to join him, shaking her head as she hugged herself, the chilly breeze of the night pecking at her skin and making her shiver. "This reminds me of my time in the army."

"You had to keep watch as well?" asked Maria quietly, sitting down next to him.

"Yup. Not as much as the other guys. We usually just had missions where we flew in, dealt with things, and retreated again. Though sometimes things would go wrong and we would have to wait for help. That's when we would take turns to watch during the nights," he told her. "This is different though. I mean, Stark and Nat, the people coming after us, aren't trying to kill us. Not to mention I'm with family now, not simple soldiers."

Maria smiled widely at his words, turning her head to look at him, "Family." She repeated the word before letting her smile falter slightly, "But not our entire family."

Sam scoffed, "For all I care, they ain't family no more."

Her heart broke slightly at his words, though she couldn't help but agree slightly. Natasha was her friend, a very close friend, and Tony had done things for her no one else would have done. They had both changed her life. But they were against them being a family the way they had always been. She knew she would never ever decline to help them should they need her, but at the same time, she feared she might easily be able to decline their calls for help.

A sigh escaped her lips and she looked away from Sam.

"What's keeping you up?"

"Secrets…" she mumbled as she lowered her arms so she was hugging her stomach.

"I'll make sure you're safe, if a fight does break out."

"I don't see how there won't be a fight," sighed Maria. "I'm sure they got some stupid orders from the government to get us back in our cages as soon as possible. And they know we want to leave the country seeing as everyone here knows our faces… They'll be there alright."

"But, they'll just be the two of them. Oh, and that cat-dude," reassured Sam. "We can handle them. Especially with our added help."

"Vision's on their side too… He'll be difficult to fight," sighed Maria. "Talking about which, who's your secret recruit?"

It was Sam's turn to sigh before he smirked, "Remember the break-in we had right after you returned to us? The man who could shrink?"

"Yeah?"

"I tracked him down. Like I said I would," gloated Sam before turning serious again. "I gave Clint his address and told him to say he owed me for what he took."

"He doesn't though… That was Stark's," smirked Maria, to which Sam simply shrugged.

"He doesn't have to know that."

"So, what's his name?"

"Scott Lang."

Silence ensued over them; a calm silence that comforted them both. The parking lot on which they were parked was surrounded by woods, the high trees shielding the view over Berlin they would normally have had from the airport. The night sky was filled with stars, no cloud being in sight. It was a beautiful night and a silent one. Though Maria doubted the silence and calm would stay during the next day. She feared things would turn nasty… Not only that, but she was afraid of what might happen once they reached the Hydra base and what they might find there.

"You of all people should get some sleep," said Sam, his eyes glancing down at his watch briefly, "There's an hour left until you're up."

"I really can't sleep…" mumbled Maria, shaking her head.

"Alright… Then, you can keep me company." Sam threw his arm over her shoulders, the two staying huddled up together the entire hour until Sam's watch was over and he left to sit himself down in the front seat to get some sleep. Alone, Maria's thoughts returned to those who had been keeping her up. And unfortunately, those thoughts kept her awake the rest of the night as well.

* * *

Steve parked beside a white van parked on the third level of the parking house that was the closest to the northwest part of the airport, just like they had agreed – it was the furthest away from the airport itself and the closest to the actual landing bay as possible. Due to its location, there were barely any cars there, and it was empty of any people too. In other words; it was the perfect location for them to meet up in secret.

The four heroes exited the old car while Clint and Wanda exited the white van. Maria quickly walked over to hug Wanda, asking her how she was and whether she was okay. Wanda simply nodded her head and it was clear that something had happened that she needed to talk about. Clint seemed the way he always had been. The only thing that was different was his suit, which had obviously been upgraded to a darker shade in colour and with, possibly, some new gear. The two hugged briefly before Clint turned to the others. Bucky stayed back, though both Wanda and Clint nodded their heads at him in recognition, Wanda even smiling at him.

"You know we wouldn't have called if we had any other choice," said Steve after he and Clint had greeted each other.

"Hey man, you're doing me a favour. Besides, I owe a debt," was Clint's only reply with a shrug.

"Thanks for having our backs," said Steve, his eyes now on Wanda.

"It was time to get off my ass," was Wanda's snarky reply, a smirk on her lips.

"How about our other recruit?" asked Steve, once more looking at Clint.

"He's rarin' to go. Had to put a little coffee in him, but… he should be good."

Clint's lips stretched out into a smirk before he turned around and opened up the back of the van, revealing a sleeping man on the backseat. Clearly enjoying this, Clint knocked loudly on the van's side causing the sleeping man to wake up with a fright. He fumbled slightly but managed to get out of the van, mumbling words about 'what time-zone is this' and more.

"Come on, come on," urged Clint before closing the door behind the man.

The moment his eyes fell on Steve, the man seemed to sober up. His eyes widened as Steve walked up to him, offering him a hand to shake. Although slightly shocked, he shook Steve's hand.

"Captain America," acknowledged the man with an amazed look.

"Mr… uh?"

"Lang. Scott Lang," introduced Maria before Clint could.

"Mr Lang," greeted Steve with a curt smile.

"It's an honour," said Scott, still shaking Steve's hand and not showing any signs of wanting to let go. "I'm shaking your hand too long." Whether Scott said this to himself or not, Maria couldn't deduce. Though it was a rather amusing sight to see the new recruit fangirl over Steve. "This is awesome! Captain America." Once Scott had let go of Steve's hand, he lightly touched Steve's shoulders, seeming to measure Steve with himself for a while before letting out a breathy 'wow.' "Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so… Thinks for thanking of me."

Maria couldn't keep a soft giggle in, biting her lip. Scott was acting rather funny. Her giggle caused Scott to look over at her and his eyes widened even more.

"Mater Mortis! Cool!"

"Please, don't call me that," squirmed Maria, shaking her head before smiling at him, "It's nice to finally meet you Mr Lang."

"Ah, call me Scott," said Scott before lightly shaking her hand. "The rumours aren't true, right? One touch doesn't kill?"

"Who-!? Oh, the media," sighed Maria before she chuckled. She quickly hugged him, placing a hand on his shoulder as she took in his shocked look. "Are you dead? No? Well then, the rumours aren't true."

Scott relaxed before noticing Sam, "Hey man."

"What's up, Tic Tac?"

Steve glanced between Sam and Scott, clearly not understanding when they had met. Maria smirked at him before reality suddenly hit her in the stomach as she realized how much Steve was actually being let out from; how much people didn't tell him things in fear of how he would react or look at them. Whether this was something that happened when others loved you or looked up to you was something Maria was unsure of. She had never really been kept in the dark about things for those reasons before. Instead it had been to control her… though that was not the reason Sam and Maria kept things from Steve.

"Good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I-" started Scott, his eyes seeming slightly nervous about how Sam would react before Sam quickly cut him off, holding his hand up.

"It was a great audition, but it'll…. It'll never happen again," stated Sam, his eyes telling Scott that he in no way would be able to beat Sam a second time. Something in Scott's eyes told Maria that he had taken that as a dare, and she smiled again.

"They tell you what we're up against?" asked Steve, changing the subject from something he did not understand to the matter at hand.

"Something about some… psycho-assassins?" said Scott uncertainly.

Maria nodded, "That's another word for it."

"We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man," warned Steve gently, his eyes telling Scott that he had a second chance to turn around and walk away from everything. Though Scott puffed up his chest unconsciously, his eyes looking up at Captain America with something close to pride, before he shook his head.

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" he asked jokingly, causing Steve to smile and nod at his confidence.

"We should get moving," said Bucky from his position away from the group.

"We got a chopper lined up," said Clint, nodding over to the landing bay where, in the distance, a chopper could be seen standing ready next to a smaller building Maria was unsure of what was inside.

Suddenly, a crackling sound could be heard from the speakers, causing all seven heroes to look up at the ceiling as though they could see who was speaking there.

 _Dies ist eine Notsituation. Alle Passagiere müssen den Flughafen sofort evakuieren._

Maria glanced back at Bucky, unsure of what they were saying.

"They're evacuating the airport," translated Bucky for her before the speakers crackled again, the same words being said in English for those passengers who were not German.

"Stark." Sam bit down after he said it, glancing over at Steve.

"Stark?" asked Scott.

Steve sighed, "Suit up. They've found us."

As quickly as they could, Sam and Maria opened the back of their run-down car while Clint opened the back of his. Maria handed over Bucky's and Steve's suits to them while Sam grabbed his wings. Clint handed Scott his suit which he quickly began to put on inside of the van. While both Steve and Bucky had no problems getting dressed in front of everyone, Maria glanced over at Wanda who nodded her head and began to move away from the group with her.

The two stood a little away from the men, Wanda (who already had her suit on) shielding Maria with her own body as Maria got undressed.

"I have to tell you something…" whispered Maria.

"You're pregnant!"

"Sssch!"

Maria gently slapped Wanda on the shoulder, glancing over at the men to see if any of them had heard. Luckily, just as Wanda had made that deduction, the notice over the speakers had been heard again and none of the men had seemed to notice. Although she could not be sure… After all, Steve had super soldier hearing. Though Bucky hadn't seemed to react either, and as far as Maria knew, the two had the same hearing capabilities.

"What makes you say that?"

Wanda, with wide eyes, glanced down at Maria's belly. It was the first real time that she had looked at herself properly since finding out that she was pregnant; meaning the day before, and Maria furrowed her brow.

"What?"

"Don't you see it? I mean, it's just a bit, but I can see it," whispered Wanda. "You're showing – how far along are you?"

"I don't know, to be honest. Sam told me yesterday," mumbled Maria causing Wanda to raise an eyebrow.

"But you're showing. Surely you had some theories as to what was going on with your body?"

"I honestly didn't… And I sure as hell didn't think about babies. The doctor told me I couldn't get pregnant again," whispered Maria. "Anyway, it's a long story."

She gently placed a hand over her stomach. It felt the same as always. Then again…

A wide smile spread over Maria's lips as reality overtook her again.

"Congrats," smiled Wanda.

"Ladies! We don't have all day!" called Sam causing the two of them to look over at him and the others. Steve wasn't fully dressed yet and gave Sam a full-on glare who seemed to shrink slightly. "I mean – Take your time!"

Maria rolled her eyes, not missing Bucky doing the exact same thing.

"So, this is Barnes?" asked Wanda as Maria began putting on her suit, one leg each.

"Yup."

"He's kinda hot," smirked Wanda.

"Hey, you got Vision. Don't go playing other dudes as well," joked Maria, though her smile faltered as Wanda's smile vanished. "What? What happened?"

"Let's just say that Vision might not want me back anymore," mumbled Wanda.

Maria zipped up her suit quickly before hugging Wanda tightly.

"He'd be a fool to not forgive you."

A sigh escaped Wanda's lips as she hugged Maria back.

"I just wish things had gone different… I just wish the Accords had never been handed to us. We have Stark to thank for that."

Not wanting to talk badly about her friend, Maria simply nodded her head.

"Right now, he's not our biggest problem," sighed Maria as she strapped her belt around her waist, attaching her sword to it.

"He's still in our way," said Wanda as the two women moved over to the men waiting for them.

"Yes, but he's only got Natasha on his side as far as we know. We can handle them if we work together."

"Agreed," nodded Steve. "So… Let's move."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Just realized it's not Switzerland but Siberia that Steve and the others are trying to get to... and I forgot about War Machine being a character in this (so I pretended it was Maria and the others forgetting about him which makes zero sense as they're basically family/friends...)! Damn... Lots of things to correct when I get the time to rewrite this series ':S sorry about that, guys! Hope you still enjoy this anyway**

 **Once more, thanks to everyone who favorited and followed!**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 20**

* * *

"Does everyone understand the plan?" asked Steve in a whisper as they made their way through the abandoned airport towards the landing bay.

"Yeah," answered Sam with a small hint of distain in his voice, "Tell me again why I've got to go with Bucky?"

"Because you have to," replied Maria simply. "Now go."

Redwing lifted off of Sam's back and flew out into the open through an airvent, beginning to circle the area and scanning for the jet Tony and the others had gotten to the airport in, while Sam and Bucky started jogging their way through the terminals. Although Clint's original idea of a chopper had not been a bad idea, a quinjet would get them to Siberia ten times faster. And the only quinjet they knew of, was whatever jet Tony and the others had arrived in.

"So they're after Bucky then, not us?" asked Scott.

"Primarily Bucky. But because we refused to do something the government wanted us to do-"

"Sign the accords," added Steve.

"Yeah. Because of that, we're seen as criminals," sighed Maria.

"Oh, well, no difference from my everyday then," said Scott with a shrug before he pressed a button on his suit to make him shrink.

"Are you all ready?" asked Steve, his hand on the door that led out onto the landing bay.

Wanda and Clint nodded their heads heading back towards a different part of the landing bay as back-up for when things would start to go down. Maria simply stared at Steve, who gave her a saddened look before he opened the door.

Maria felt strangely tiny as she, Steve and Scott (in tiny ant-mode as Maria had joked) walked out into the open onto the landing bay, in that exact order as well. Both of them stopped once they caught sight of Natasha and Tony, all suited up, standing there; waiting for them. Strangely enough, Maria felt relieved there was only the two of them. They could not afford to go through a big fight seeing as they had to get to Siberia as quickly as possible. That doctor already had a head start, and Maria was not prepared to give him anymore of a head start.

However, Maria grew far more worried as she realized that Tony and Natasha were not the only ones there. Rhodey, the one member of the team who of course would stand by Tony's side no matter what (and also the one member of the team that Maria and the others had completely forgot about), landed beside Tony.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport," hummed Tony, the mask of his suit opening up to reveal his face.

"Definitely weird," replied Rhodey while Natasha simply stared ahead, her face monotone.

"Hear me out, Tony. That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this," began Steve seeming to want to at least try and reason with the man who used to be his family.

Another man joined Tony's side suddenly, leaping over a nearby truck with elegant movements.

"Captain," greeted T'Challa as he positioned himself next to Natasha.

To anyone who knew Tony, it was rather clear that he had staged all of it and told the remainders of his team to come out one by one. All Maria could hope for was that there was no one left, cause they had barely anymore time to lose and Maria truly didn't feel like beating up anymore people who were, like herself, special. Not only that, but she hoped Tony had not asked any of them to pop out from the terminals, seeing as that was where Sam was leading Bucky away from the fight so at least he would not get caught.

"Your highness," greeted Steve back.

From the corner of Maria's eye, she noticed two things. First of all she noticed how Steve's grip on his shield tightened. The second thing she noticed was how he turned his head ever so slightly to the right as though he heard something behind them.

 _Don't let it be someone else… Don't let it be someone else…_

"Anyways. Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?" said Tony, his tone indicating that he was not, in any way, expecting them to go quietly.

"You're after the wrong guy," tried Steve again, moving his head back to look at Tony.

"Your judgement is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday," said Tony with a gentle voice, though still through gritted teeth.

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first. Tony, I can't."

Maria's fingers curled around the hilt of her sword, her shoulders tensing up. In her mind she tried her best to picture this as a really good duelling session that was about to begin, with some added roleplay… Though it didn't quite work. This was still her family standing before her. But the safety of the world was at risk and she couldn't just let that happen, no matter who stood in the way for her to do her duty.

"Steve…" spoke Natasha, her voice less angered than Tony's, "you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"

Silence fell over the heroes.

"Alright. I've run out of patience. Underoos!"

Before either of them had time to register what Tony had just yelled, something sticky and white shot out from the corner to their left where Steve had obviously heard something. The goo stuck onto Steve's shield and within in a matter of milliseconds, the shield shot out from Steve's grip and towards the person who had just appeared, leaving Steve shield-less and with his hands tied together with the strange web-like goo. Maria went to help him out, though Steve shook his head at her.

She wondered briefly why Tony had not asked for her to be tied up as well. Did he not think of her as a threat?

The new recruit landed on the truck T'Challa had jumped across before the shield landed in his hand. Much to Maria's surprise, the man who had just appeared seemed very short and very agile, as he stood crouched on the edge of the truck's roof, holding the shield without ever even seeming to lose his balance. To her, he looked much like a real-life acrobatic who had turned his skills into crime-fighting… Though that sounded too much like Robin for Maria to believe the new recruit's origin was like that.

His suit was red and blue with a pattern of what seemed like dark webs criss-crossing all over it. On his chest was a small bug, and Maria couldn't resist the urge to smirk at the thought that both 'teams' had added a new member who both seemed to like some form of insects.

"Nice job, kid," praised Tony.

 _Kid?_

"Thanks! Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit… Well, it's nothing, Mr Stark! It's-It's perfect. Thank you," rambled the new guy, his voice a pitch higher than Maria had expected. Indeed, he seemed rather young.

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation," said Tony awkwardly, the mask of his suit moving back into place again.

"Okay…" responded the new guy. "Cap… Captain. Big fan, I'm Spider-Man."

Maria couldn't help but smile slightly at the dorkiness of Tony's new guy. Oh how she wished they were all still a family so she too could have met this new recruit!

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just…"

"Hey, Mater Mortis! Hey, everyone!"

"… Good job," muttered Tony.

"You've been busy," declared Steve, the same faint smile on his lips as Maria had on hers.

"And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave; a safe place. I'm trying to keep… I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

"Steve!? Yeah, right. Steve's the one tearing us all apart," announced Maria, rolling her eyes.

"You shut your mouth!"

Maria was too stunned to retort anything, staring at Tony with wide eyes.

"Out of all the people here, you should be the one to side with me the most! You are all about us being a family. Families keep each other safe! Steve's version of the Avengers, where we roam free and do whatever the hell we want, makes sure that nothing is safe. Neither us. Or the world."

"I'm sorry Tony but… When you signed those accords, you signed up to make sure our family can't be a family anymore. Families don't take orders from no one," said Maria.

"And what happens when our family is, once again, the main reason for destruction in this world?!"

"Tony…" breathed Maria, shaking her head. "We've saved it-"

"Alright, we're done," stated Tony. "You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us, or a squad of J-SOC guys… With no compunction about being impolite."

Maria glanced back at the terminals.

 _"Redwing's found their quinjet. Hanger five. North runway."_

"Come on," pressed Tony, not having noticed their little secret talk.

Much according to plan, Maria saw a small reflection from Scott's helmet from where he sat, waiting for the signal, on the new recruit's shoulder. The plan had been to go for whoever had made the first move, and so Scott was on Spider-Man's shoulder.

Steve suddenly shifted, lifting his hands up so Clint, who still should have a clear view of Steve and Maria in case something did happen, had a clear shot of the webbing around his wrists. With a single, well-aimed arrow, Clint removed the webbing and freed Steve whom immediately looked over at his shield, "Alright, Lang."

"Hey, guys? Something's…" Before Spider-Man could finish his sentence, Scott managed to free Steve's shield from Spider-Man's hands before jumping down and running back to Steve with the shield. From everyone else's view, it looked rather hilarious. Something invisible was moving the shield along the ground as though it was walking on its own, hence why no one moved or did anything. As it stopped next to Steve, Scott re-grew to his normal size, showing himself to the others for the first time.

"What the hell was that?!" asked Rhodey.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America," said Scott, handing Steve the shield back.

The moment Steve had his shield back, all three of them began to run away from Tony's team, something that normally would not have worked had Maria not used her powers to lift up whatever dirt was lying on the ground between the teams, lifting it up to create a barrier much like smoke between them so they could run away unharmed. The plan now was to get to the jet Sam had told them about, which hopefully Wanda and Clint were already doing.

However the dust did not help much as Rhodey quickly charged threw it, aiming his hands at the three of them. Steve turned, mid-running, and threw his shield at Rhodey. It bounced back to Steve's hand and caused Rhodey to stop what he was doing, clearly a bit startled. The three stopped their running, turning to face Rhodey.

"Where'd the others go?" asked Scott.

"Shit… Bucky!"

Steve glanced at Maria and Scott, "They'll make it. We gotta focus on getting to the jet."

Though from the corner of her eyes, something caught Maria's eye and she suddenly darted off away from Steve. Shooting his shield one more time at Rhodey who this time was propelled backwards away from the fight, Steve ran after Maria. Scott moved to do the same, though Natasha suddenly appeared in front of him, leaving him behind to fight his way away from the Black Widow.

Steve easily caught up with Maria even though she had a head-start, and he soon saw the same thing Maria had seen; T'Challa moving in towards the terminals where Bucky and Sam were. They both knew T'Challa still had a grudge against Bucky after what happened to his father, and so, they knew they had to at least try and stop him from getting to him. Steve threw his shield at his back, causing him to stumble slightly before he threw himself at T'Challa, the two tumbling down to the ground while Maria drew her sword. As T'Challa caught himself on all fours, staring up at Steve who was still on the floor, Maria went in to tap T'Challa on the shoulder with her sword, just enough to send him flying and get him out of the fight for a little while, though he had heard her and quickly turned and used his claws to punch away her sword from him. Shocked at T'Challa's fast movements, Maria didn't have time to dodge his next move and ended up on the concrete ground with him looking down at her. Her back hurt slightly, though it was nothing against the pain in her stomach. Although she tried her best to not acknowledge it.

Steve's shield hit T'Challa on the back again, causing him to turn around and move away from Maria who quickly crawled over to her sword which had fallen to the ground a little further away from her.

"Move Captain. I won't ask a second time," warned T'Challa.

Steve simply smirked at his words, not moving away at all, and as T'Challa jumped up and gave a few kicks at Steve, he easily deflected them with his shield.

 ** _Clang, clang, clang._**

Maria jumped back up onto her feet as she grasped the hilt of her sword again and upon hearing the sounds Steve's shield made, she turned her head to look over at where T'Challa was. Quickly, she charged again, only being able to watch as T'Challa clawed and punched at Steve, who did nothing else but dodge all of T'Challa's tries at hurting him. Maria knew he was waiting for her, understanding that T'Challa would not be out of the fight until Maria managed to tap him with his sword. He was a strong fighter.

Suddenly, however, Maria stopped running as she saw Rhodey appear behind Steve with, what looked to be, a mace with some electrical charge sparkling around it, in his hand. Maria let out a frustrated noise at Tony's new ideas before, without him noticing, jumping up onto T'Challa's back as he kept trying to hit Steve, leaping up into the air and forcing her sword right at Rhodey's chest. The tap had not been a light tap and both she and Rhodey broke apart, landing loudly on the ground a few feet apart from each other. She heard him groan where he lay, though she didn't pay any notice to him. Instead, she quickly sat upright, her hand over her stomach as a little bit of blood was coughed up. Breathing deeply, she stood back up, wiping her mouth clean with the sleeve of her suit before she, with her sword still in her hand, started to stumble towards Steve again. The pain was intense, though she was _not_ going to give up.

With a battle cry that was more of a cry of pain than anything else, Maria lifted her sword up right as T'Challa managed to knock Steve off his feet. Albeit he tried, he did not get away from her sword that time and was knocked back, staying down as well. She helped Steve up, checking him over for any injuries before the two nodded their heads at each other and started running over to the right area of the landing bay, hand in hand. However, they both noticed something behind them.

T'Challa and Rhodey were getting back up again.

"Okay. So. My sword isn't as effective towards Avengers as I thought it would be," said Maria quietly as Steve and Maria stopped again, facing the two heroes who were preparing to charge at them.

"Hey, Cap!" called Scott as he appeared next to Steve and Maria. "Throw this," he said and handed Steve a small toy-truck, which only earned confused looks from both Steve and Maria, "at this," he finished and showed Steve a small disc that was almost glowing with a faint, blue light.

Trusting the new recruit, Steve did as Scott obeyed, throwing the small toy-truck at the disc the moment Scott had thrown it towards the two charging heroes. The toy-truck suddenly grew in size, revealing to Maria and Steve that it was no, in any way, a _toy_ , but actually a real-life truck which was not headed towards T'Challa and Rhodey, tumbling towards them. They jumped out of the way before it could hit them and the explosion caused both Maria and Steve to jump back in surprise.

"Oh man, I thought that was a water-truck. My bad," apologized Scott before Maria and Steve turned him around, the three running away from the fire while they had a chance to get away from their fighters.

Close to the hangar where the quinjet was stationed, Steve, Maria and Scott met up with Wanda and Clint who were already running towards it. Soon, Bucky and Sam joined them as well and together, the seven of them ran as fast as they could… Well, Steve and Bucky didn't really as they then would have outrun the others and everyone was supposed to get onboard that jet.

Everything seemed fine. Tony and the others were not behind them nor were they in view. The jet was right there… So close!

And then, suddenly, a yellow light shot down at the ground in front of them, slicing the concrete as though it was made out of paper and burning its surface. The seven of them stopped and looked up, seeing Vision hovering in the air in front of them, seemingly guarding the jet.

"Captain Rogers," called Vision. "I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good, you must surrender now."

Tony's team arrived, positioning themselves underneath of Vision and Maria sighed. They had been so close. No one had gotten hurt yet…

Her hand unconsciously found its way to her stomach as she feared what was going to happen next.

"What do we do, Cap?" asked Sam.

.

.

.

"We fight."


	21. Chapter 21

**Once more, thanks to everyone who favorited and followed and a special thanks to love . fiction.2017 who reviewed! :D**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 21**

* * *

Without a beat's hesitation, the teams suddenly charged. Steve had his shield ready. Sam raised up into the air. Bucky simply ran. Scott simply ran. Wanda raised up in the air as well. Clint stayed back with an arrow ready to be shot. And Maria raised her sword. The runes on the sword's blade were clear and visible in the midday sun, and the diamonds on the pommel burned brightly as she gripped her sword tightly. All in all, the run was epic when you looked at it from afar. But inside… Inside of Maria and many of the other heroes, there was chaos and pain.

Her eyes darted from one hero to the other, unsure of who she was supposed to charge at. Nobody was truly charging at her. T'Challa was clearly heading for Bucky. Tony clearly had a grudge with Steve. Nat was heading towards Clint. Wanda and Vision had their eyes on each other, albeit neither of them looked ready to hit each other. Rhodey was flying towards Sam and the Spider-Man seemed to go for Scott. Though there was no one Maria wanted to charge at. There was no one she wanted to hurt. They were her family. She loved them… And yet, here they were, charging at each other as though they weren't family; as though they had not just spent the past months together in the same house, eating together, training together, watching movies together…

With that conflict inside of her, Maria followed Bucky with her eyes as he sprinted slightly ahead of her. The teams moved closer and closer to each other. A brief glance was exchanged between Maria and Natasha. The teams moved in closer to each other… And **BANG** , the fight was on.

Maria stayed with Bucky, kicking T'Challa, who had clawed at Bucky's metal arm, in the gut and sending him a few meters away from them. Though he barely seemed to have noticed it as he immediately recuperated and pounced at them again. Bucky was quick to push Maria out of reach, taking the pounce instead. In return, Maria wielded her sword and lightly tapped T'Challa's arm, this time sending him flying back more extremely and further away from Bucky. Though the fight was still on.

Maria and Bucky braced themselves as T'Challa ran towards them once more, though something caught both of their attention. Rhodey had flown up towards Maria and sent a few minor missiles towards her, hopefully meant to simply knock her out. Fear took control of Maria, one hand going down to protect her stomach while the other, still holding onto her sword, was lifted up into the air out of sheer instinct. With her palm pointed towards the missiles, she used her powers to stop them and make them turn around, causing them to fly off over Rhodey's head who just managed to dodge them. Yet, that was not all. While this had happened and the pain in her stomach had caused her to stumble back, T'Challa was still charging towards them. Bucky grabbed Maria, steadying her on her feet while, up in the air, Sam kicked Rhodey in the back, distracting Rhodey enough to follow Sam away from Maria and Bucky.

"You okay?" whispered Bucky into her ear as she stood leaning against his body with her back pressed up against his chest.

She shivered and nodded her head, trying her best to stand on her own two feet. However, before she had managed to find her balance, T'Challa clawed at Bucky's arm, luckily only hitting metal. This caused Bucky to instinctively push Maria away from him before throwing a punch at T'Challa, which in turn caused her to fall to the ground.

"I am not weak…" whispered Maria to herself as she stood back up on wobbly feet. "I can fight."

Lifting her sword, Maria prepared herself to help Bucky out again, though before she could, something sticky stuck onto her sword as it was mid-air, yanking it out of her hand.

"Wow! That is such a cool sword! Like, it's an actual sword!"

Maria's eyes widened as she turned to watch the Spider-Man walk over to the sword which was now lying on the ground, the web still on its hilt, masking the rubies.

"NO!"

She began to run, her face struck in horror as she could only watch as the young kid bent down to grab the sword, clearly too awestruck to hear her yell. She noticed Clint turn his head at her from the corner of her eye, though all she could really focus on was Spider-Man.

It seemed to happen in slow-motion. Her hand was just above his, so close from stopping him from doing something stupid… But he still was too quick for her. She had never seen it happen in real life. Xavier had simply told her that the sword could only be touched by someone it chose to bear it. But now that she saw it in real life, she began to fear of what she actually was wielding.

Spider-Man retracted his hand, seeming to have been chocked by something as his body convulsed before flying off into a pile of nearby crates. Maria didn't hesitate to grab the sword off the ground and place it back where it belonged alongside her hip, before running towards the now scattered crates where Spider-Man lay, unmoving.

The fight continued behind her, explosions going off here and there. But she didn't care.

Slowly she kneeled down beside the strangely dressed kid, placing a hand on his chest and, much to her relief, feeling it moving. He was alright, but had obviously taken a pretty bad hit. He groaned, the eyes on his mask narrowing slightly before seeming to focus on her.

"Are you okay?" she breathed, nearly shaking.

"Uh, I think so. Yeah. That was… Wow. That hurt…" While he spoke he sat back up, her hand moving to help him up into a sitting position. "What just happened?"

"My sword can't be touched by anyone but me. It's… special," she explained. "I've never seen it happen in real life. What did you feel?"

"Pain. Just… Lots of pain. And then I didn't feel pain. I think I was dreaming for a while… And then I felt pain again. And saw you," he explained, his voice sounding normal again.

She smiled at him, "I think we should get back to the fight."

"Yeah, yeah. Totally. By the way, has anyone ever told you you're really pretty? Wow, that was inappropriate. Must've hit my head or something…"

Maria simply smiled and shook her head, helping him up to his feet. "Stay in the game, Spider-Man. Or you might get hurt for real next time."

And with that, they both ran off back into the fight again.

Bucky was out of sight and so was Sam. Clint was staying by Wanda's side and Scott was nowhere to be seen. Though she did catch a glimpse of something tiny jumping up towards Natasha before she suddenly face-planted the ground.

Steve was all alone, fighting off Tony still. She made her way over there, once more taking out her sword. Though Tony saw her, lifting his hand up to shoot something at her, which Steve deflected using his shield. Side by side they jumped up towards Tony, Steve ready to punch him with his shield, while Maria was ready to tap his suit with her sword. However, something happened then that neither of them had foreseen.

Tony turned off his jets and fell to the ground, managing to evade Steve and Maria's punches. They landed behind him and before they could turn around to face Tony, he had already turned and shot two missiles at each of them. Maria managed to stop the ones coming at Steve, though she missed one coming for her. Although Steve hurried to try and shield her, he missed and she was shot backwards by one of Tony's empty rounds which caused her no greater pain than a normal punch would have.

Yet, the fall still hurt. Some of the minor scrapes she got healed immediately, though in turn her stomach gave off shots of pain that caused her to gasp loudly. She fleetly saw Sam fly against Tony, knocking them both to the ground before Steve's face was the only thing she could see as he crouched over her.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice serious and calm even though his blue eyes revealed he was clearly not calm.

His hand pressed against her upper arm, calming her down as she recovered from the pain. Gently he raised her up into a sitting position, his eyes darting around the place in case someone attacked them.

"I'm fine," she breathed, her fingers curling into Steve's shoulder as she took deep breaths. "Fine…"

He helped her to stand back up, the both of them grabbing their weapons which had fallen to the ground.

"Can you run?" asked Steve gently, the two looking over at the fight at hand. Maria followed everyone with her eyes for a while, accounting for everyone apart from Natasha who she could not see anywhere.

"Yeah, of course," breathed Maria.

After a curt nod from Steve, he suddenly surprised her by grabbing her jaw and gently pressing her forehead against hers. She let go of his shoulder, grabbing onto the back of his head as she leaned into his touch.

"Together then," he breathed, his lips so close to hers that they were almost touching.

"Together," she breathed back, the engagement ring underneath of her glove heating up.

Hand in hand, Steve and Maria began to run. Scott deflected a couple of Tony's shots for them as they did before he shrunk again. However, their running was hindered by Natasha who suddenly appeared before them.

Steve lifted his shield, prepared to defend himself.

"I'm sorry about this," breathed Natasha, her eyes filled with regret before she lifted her arms, aiming her fists at them both before sending small fires of electricity their way. Steve blocked them all with his shield, positioning himself in front of Maria just slightly in order to do so.

As the shots stopped, Maria jumped forwards, meaning to tap Natasha lightly on the arm with her sword. However, Natasha foresaw this after having sparred with Maria for a long time, and side-stepped away from Maria's sword, in the progress grabbing Maria's hand that was holding the grip, pushing her backwards onto the ground before slamming her hand against the concrete ground. Her fingers lost her grip on her sword and at the pain in her fingers upon the slam, Maria let out a cry of pain as she literally felt each bone cracking and breaking.

Natasha staggered backwards at Maria's pained cry, causing Steve to gain the advantage as he quickly thrust his shield against the back of Natasha's head, knocking her down to the ground where she lay completely dazed as Steve stepped over her towards Maria.

She gently moved her hand to rest in her lap as Steve looked it over, barely daring to touch her hand.

"It'll heal… It'll heal," she breathed, shaking from the pain in her hand and in her stomach. "Help me up."

Not protesting, Steve lifted her up to her feet, not thinking twice before grabbing her sword and handing it to her. He furrowed his brow as she stared at him with wide eyes, shoving the sword into her not broken hand before quickly urging her to move on. Had anyone else touched that sword, they would have felt it the way Spider-Man had.

But not Steve?

Recovering from the shock, Maria ran next to Steve. The pain in her stomach along with the pain in her hand as the bones slowly healed, caused her to clearly be way too slow for Steve. She had to lean on him and the two could barely come up at a jogging speed. She couldn't help but hate herself for actually slowing down Steve…

The jet was not too far away though. It was still at least a couple hundred meters away, but compared to other lengths they had run before, it was nothing to any of the Avengers. Bucky appeared next to Steve, glancing at the both of them as he spoke.

"We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia now."

A lurch of pain caused Maria to bite her lip tightly while at the same time also causing her to feel even more of a nuisance. Steve's arm went around her waist to keep her upright as she, apparently, had sagged slightly, her knees giving up underneath of her.

Bucky stared at her.

"We gotta draw out the flyers," stated Steve as he looked up. "They'll take down the jet if we take it. I'll take Vision, you take the jet."

Bucky nodded his head, prepared to follow Steve's orders blindly. Though Sam was not.

 _"No, you get the jet. You three. The rest of us aren't getting out of here."_ Above them, Sam flew over them with Rhodey chasing his tale still.

 _"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us are gonna have to lose it."_ Clint's voice caused Steve to look back at where he and Wanda were going at T'Challa and Spider-Man.

 _"This isn't the real fight,"_ came Sam's voice again over the coms.

"Alright, Sam, what's the play?" asked Steve.

 _"We need a diversion. Something big."_

"Well, we've got something small," commented Maria, referring to Scott.

 _"Actually, I've got something kinda big, but I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half, don't come back for me."_

Maria glanced at Steve with confused eyes at Scott's words.

"He's gonna tear himself apart?" asked Bucky with furrowed brows.

A shadow suddenly appeared over them and as they looked back, they saw Scott had grown significantly in size to the point where he was even taller than the airport itself.

"I think that's the signal," mumbled Maria, preparing herself to once more push her body.

With one arm around Steve's shoulders and one arm around her own stomach, Maria ran side by side of Steve and Bucky. Though she knew they were holding back significantly just so she could keep up with them. It pained her almost more than her stomach was at the moment to know that Steve and Bucky might not make it to Siberia in time because of her and a small tear slipped down her cheek because of it.

Hissing, Maria slowed down causing Steve and Bucky to look at her with confused eyes. Steve kept trying to keep her upright, though she struggled enough to finally hit the ground, moving to lean against a nearby crate as the fight between the massive Scott and the others went on in the background. She shook her head at the two super soldiers in front of her, looking down at the ground.

"Steve…. I can't – I can't come with you. I'm holding you back. I'm slow-"

"What are you talking about? You're coming with us," urged Steve, his hands once more gripping her arms to try and lift her up though she struggled against him, causing him to stop lifting her.

Tears appeared in her eyes. If she came with him, she would barely be of use. Her hand was healing, but her stomach was still hurting too badly. She had wanted to help, but she couldn't endanger the baby anymore. Besides… She didn't like pain and not fighting made sure she had no pain.

"I know I said I wanted to be by your side constantly and I do," she whispered as Steve crouched down in front of her, his hands on either side of hers. "I wanted to keep you safe… All of you. I wanted to keep my family safe… And I realize now that, if I want to do that, I'm gonna have to stay behind."

Steve stayed silent, Bucky restlessly looking between Maria and the jet that was not too far away from them now.

"If you stay behind, they'll take you in."

A tear slipped down her cheek, her fears of having the baby without Steve nearby coming true. She placed her hands over his, grabbing them and hugging them to her chest while she pressed her nose to his. Both closed their eyes, their breathing synchronizing as they slowly moved their lips closer to each other.

"I love you so much," breathed Steve, his eyes opening again. "And I promise you that we won't be apart."

Maria simply nodded.

"Steve," said Bucky in a sudden concerned breath of air, causing both Steve and Maria to look over at what he was staring at.

Something had caused the entrance to the building the jet was parked in, to cave in. At least, it was starting to crumble, debris falling down in large chunks. Now, the entrance was not a normal doorway entrance. It was large due to how large the hangar was. In a way, it was almost big enough for Scott in his current form to walk through. Its size meant that the debris falling down from the slowly crumbling entrance would crush either Bucky or Steve if they happened to be underneath of it. Something had to be done. They had to be able to enter! It was the only entrance except for the open roof through which the jet would take off, and neither Steve nor Bucky had the time to climb up the side of the building, even if they could, without getting caught by one of the heroes trying to take them in.

Maria made a decision right then and there. If she could not help them in Siberia, she would at least help them as much as she still could right there and then. Grabbing Steve's face, she placed a firm and passionate kiss to his lips. Bucky furrowed his brow at them, wondering what he had missed. And then… Maria lifted her hands up, her mind on the kiss and the world she was saving for both him and their baby… Her sword hanging from her belt suddenly glowed, and when Bucky and Steve looked back at the crumbling entrance, they saw her invisible powers holding it up.

"Maria, be careful!" warned Bucky, obviously still aware of her pregnancy. Though she shook her head at him, whispering for them to go and run; to save the world.

The void had taken over her stomach and the excruciating pain she felt was beyond anything she had ever felt before. Though she pushed on, knowing she needed to do this. Each time her mind slipped away from the crumbling entrance or Steve's beautiful face, she pushed herself back to think about it, knowing that if she lost focus even for a second, she would lose control over her powers.

"GO!"

Steve turned away from her, not being able to look at her being in so much pain for any longer. Bucky began to run and Steve followed him, biting down hard as he forced himself to move away from his future wife. He kept glancing back at her as both he and Bucky pushed themselves to run as fast as they could and what he saw broke his heart.

Her hands were shaking, the veins in her eyes popping. A small drop of blood left her right eye, slowly sliding down her cheek and joining the rest of the blood down by her lips. Her knees buckled and she fell forwards onto her knees, though she kept her hands up, focusing on the tower. The void inside of her burned and ached. This was beyond the limit of her powers, she knew this, though she had to help Steve and Bucky in whatever way she could. Them not reaching the aircraft in time was her fault, and she was not going to hinder them anymore.

Someone screamed, and it took her a while to realize she was the one screaming. There was so much pain inside of her – her entire body shook. The only thing left in her blurry vision was the broken half of the entrance kept up by her own powers and the two figures now running underneath of it. The void, her powers, felt as though it was tearing itself through her inside, ripping out more space and settling in there. The only other time she had felt such pain, was when she had fallen down that building and landed on the ground with a metal pipe sticking out of her abdomen. Not even dying hurt as much as she hurt right there and then.

And then, the two figures had disappeared inside, safely out of the way of the tower. As she let go, she let out another cry. Going from overusing her powers to suddenly not using them at all in under a second was even more painful. Something stabbed her abdomen, causing her to choke up some blood before falling backwards onto the cold, hard ground. The air slowly left her lungs and for a moment, the only thing she saw was the sky above her and the loud thumping of her heart.

The rush of her body healing itself was painful yet also familiar, which calmed her down tremendously. The same wave of nausea and pain went through her as the one she had felt a couple of times now, though she almost felt too tired to throw up what little food she had gotten the night before. She clutched her stomach as she groaned, pearls of sweat now visible on her forehead. Blood was still seeping out from her eyes, nose and mouth even though she had healed. But now… Now she also felt it on her legs, her thighs…

And then darkness overtook her and she closed her eyes.


	22. Chapter 22

**There were mixed feelings about the previous chapter's ending. But that's okay because for the first time in my life I actually felt as though my writing makes an impact on people. It's not much, it's just fanfiction after all, but it really made my day when people reviewed and let me know what they thought. Don't stop doing that, honestly, I really like it!**

 **So, a special thanks** **to love . fiction.2017, lovingvamp345, Goldenfightergirl who all reviewed! :D**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 22**

* * *

"What's gonna happen to your friends?" asked Bucky, sitting in the back of the quinjet they had just stolen, his eyes staring at the back of Steve's head. Shame was twirling through his eyes; shame and regret. Behind him, an empty seat existed, one he knew Steve wanted to be filled by Maria. But she was not there.

"Whatever it is... I'll deal with it," replied Steve seriously, nodding his head while slightly turning his head towards Bucky to acknowledge his words.

A sigh escaped Bucky's lips, "I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve."

"What you did all those years... It wasn't you. You didn't have a choice," said Steve, shaking his head, staring down at the controls in front of him. The plane was on autopilot for the moment, though the air around Bucky and Steve was so tense that he could not bear himself to look back at him, and so he pretended he was still piloting. His heart ached, and Bucky knew why.

"I know. But I did it."

"You did…" breathed Steve. "If Maria was here, she would say that she too did it. But she walked away from that life and now, now she's saved twice the amount of people she killed," said Steve, finally looking back at Bucky and offering him a genuine smile. "She would also say that whatever you're feeling about all of this is not going to go away ever. But that you'll be able to live with it after a while. Because you have to."

" _If_ Maria was here…" breathed Bucky. "Steve, I'm so sorry."

Steve turned back to the controls again, closing his eyes as the images of Maria lying there on the ground in a pool of blood reappeared before his eyes once more.

"I'm truly not worth sacrificing her," said Bucky and Steve shook his head.

"She would disagree," retorted Steve.

"But do you? Do you disagree?"

Silence entered the aircraft after his question. Steve honestly had no good answer to that. He wanted to be there for the both of them.

"This is bigger than you and me. This is bigger than… Than her and me," replied Steve seriously. "It's about stopping those super soldiers."

As they flew over the airport, Bucky and Steve had visibly seen Maria lying flat on the ground, bloody and pale. Wanda had been trying to push her way towards Maria, though Vision kept her in place since Wanda clearly was wounded herself. Steve wanted to be there with Maria. She had not been well lately and now, she truly did not look well. Although he knew she could heal, he still worried about her.

Though on the other hand, Bucky needed his help and Bucky was almost as dear to him as Maria was. The whole point of Maria ever pushing herself past her limits had been to get them both to the jet so they could take off and save the world… and Steve would be damned if he did not finish what he had started – if not for Bucky or the world, then for Maria and the pain she had gone through.

"I don't, by the way… I don't disagree," said Steve after a while. "We're friends, Bucky. This is what friends do."

"Friends leave their girlfriends bloody on an airport for each other?" he asked, a soft air of sarcasm around his words, even though neither of them took his words as a joke.

"You'd be amazed by how strong she is," said Steve, a soft smile appearing on his lips. "She's been through death and more."

"I like her," said Bucky, rather out of the blue. "She's right for you, and you're right for her. You're both rather sweet, though Maria is more impulsive and emotional than you, which makes you perfect for her while you could use a little more emotions in your life."

"Thanks," smiled Steve, the air of sarcasm in his words this time also lifting the mood in the aircraft.

"I mean it," said Bucky. "I really like her. I don't want her getting hurt."

Steve sighed, "Neither do I."

* * *

 **Raft Prison, location anonymous.**

"Maria? Maria?"

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Her body felt better and for a moment, she thought she was in her bed, the way she felt re-energized and ready to take on whatever came her way. Though as her vision became clearer, she realized that she most certainly was not in her bed – even though she was in a bed. The memories of what had happened before she passed out from the pain came back to her and she grunted while she sat up, kicking the thin blanket off of her and looking around herself.

She was in a cell…

 _Hands touched her face, wiping away warm, sticky liquids from her face with effort. She had not fallen unconscious yet, though she was wishing she had. The pain was so breathtakingly sharp and_ real _that she could barely breathe. Her lungs forced her to do so though, and she could hear herself taking in little gasps of air from time to time. The cool blade of her sword was pressed against her hand from how she had fallen after she had let go of the debris. It was currently, apart from the hands on her face, the only other thing she could feel. Everything else was numb or just pain._

 _Her eyes turned painfully towards the left to take in the face of whoever was there caring for her and she could feel her heart fluttering with relief as she saw the kind face of Wanda._

 _"Don't fall asleep. Stay with us." The words Wanda uttered felt far away from her, though she still heard them and tried her best to follow the orders Wanda gave her. Yet it was hard… all she really wished for was unconsciousness. "What happened to her? This does not happen to me when I use my powers."_

 _Vision came into view, his eyes scanning her body as though he were still Jarvis and able to indeed scan a body. "Her body is somehow broken. There's something keeping her powers occupied… I don't understand."_

 _Wanda opened her mouth to ask more questions, though someone else neared them and caused them both to stand up and disappear out of view. She heard voices talking, yelling at each other and then Wanda sighing a defeated sigh. Names were mentioned, accusations were made…_

 _"If he doesn't make it – If Rhodes doesn't… I will personally make sure that you are_ all _punished for his death."_

 _She wanted badly to call out for Tony and ask what had happened. Though she couldn't. Her body would not comply._

With still shaky legs and a tired mind, Maria forced herself to stand up and walk over to the bars. Relieved murmurs were heard as she pressed her face against the bars to see better, though all she could see was a corridor with several other cells along it. Hers had to have been positioned in the middle of the corridor as she neither saw a door leading out of their prison hallway, nor any windows letting in sunlight, or moonlight depending on what time of the day it was.

Across from her, Sam was standing against the bars in a similar way she was. To his left was Wanda and to his right was Scott. She noticed the strange clothes Sam wore and noticed that she herself had the same attire on; some simple shirt and sweatpants colored a strange beige color.

"Who undressed me?" she asked with a hoarse voice, causing Sam to let out a dry laugh.

"Really? That's your first question after you've been unconscious for who knows how long…?"

"Has it been hours… days?"

"I'd guess hours but uh… Hard to tell WITHOUT A CLOCK!" Maria watched as Sam turned around, staring menacingly at something behind him. She mimicked him and saw what she supposed he was staring at as well though inside of his cell; a security camera with a little red light beside its lens telling her it was recording her every movement.

"Stark… He took us in," she breathed.

"He sure did," sighed Clint's voice. It came from the right of her and she assumed Clint's cell was there, though she could not see.

"What the hell have they done to Wanda? What are we, some sort freaks!?" Wanda glanced over at her from where she was sitting on her bed, tied up in a straightjacket. "As if they think she can't use her powers without theatrical movements… pfft…"

"How're you feeling?" asked Scott, causing her to sigh.

"Like hell…" she mumbled, curling her fingers around the bars she was holding on to, her gaze going down to the floor outside her cell. "Like I've been running for days without taking a break… Just weak."

"M, you were bleeding from places I didn't even know we could bleed from. Something's seriously wrong."

"I pushed myself too far, that's all," sighed Maria.

"Not… too far, I hope?"

A hand unconsciously moved to her stomach and she shook her head, remembering the feeling of the blood... "I don't know…"

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening caused everyone to tense up. Maria tried to see what was happening, though could not. However, Scott and Wanda seemed to be able to and the way they looked away in annoyance caused Maria to have a hum of who might have entered. Either secretary Ross, or one of the other heroes who had captured them.

The sound of slow clapping echoed against the metal walls from Clint's cell. "The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not." The sarcasm literally dripped from Clint's voice as he announced who had entered as though he was part of a circus. Maria immediately knew who it was. Clint would never have reacted that way had it been secretary Ross.

"Give me a break, Barton. I had no idea they'd put you here," said Tony's voice, his left shoulder coming into view of Maria as he placed himself in front of Clint's cell.

The sound of someone spitting caused Maria to furrow her brow as her heart ached, "Yeah, well, you know they'd put us somewhere, Tony."

"Yeah but not some super-max floating ocean pokey. You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for…"

"Super villain criminals? Like the Joker or-or Quinn?" spat Maria.

"Criminals, Tony," repeated Clint before Tony had the chance to move towards Maria's cell. "Think that's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't use to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are."

"Because you broke the law," tried Tony, his voice barely above a whisper.

Clint scoffed out a 'yeah' while Tony continued talking. Though all Maria could hear was Clint's mocking 'lalala'. She moved away from the bars, conflicted. She was mad at Tony, yes, but he was still her family; her friend. Somehow, she just would not let go of their relationship even after everything he had done to her… It reminded her a lot of what she used to feel towards her mother… It reminded her of a poisonous relationship and that only hurt more.

"Alright," growled Tony suddenly, shutting up Clint. "You're all grown up! You've got a wife and kids. I don't understand – why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?"

Tony turned, his shoulder disappearing out of view for Maria before suddenly he walked past her, seeming to be pacing back and forth.

"Hank Pym always said you never can trust a Stark," said Scott, confusing everyone in the room.

"Who are you?" asked Tony to which Scott looked rather pained, as though his pride had been stripped from him by that question.

Tony stopped in front of Sam's and Maria's cells, turning his head to look at Sam once before turning to Maria fully.

"How are you doing?"

She squinted his eyes at him, not replying to him as she felt both hurt at him suddenly changing demeanor around her, while at the same time also wanting to tell him everything; confide in him the way she used to be able to. Once more, she placed her forehead against the bars, her eyes tearing up.

"Okay, no chick-flick moments. I just want to know if they've fed you and stuff. I may not be on Ross' Christmas card list at the moment, but at least I still have some say in this matter," he said, holding up his hand, the other one stuck in a sling as he had hurt himself during the fight.

"Doesn't matter what we feel at the moment, does it? Doesn't matter if they feed us or not… We're locked up. We've been stripped of our freedom, everything that Steve has ever worked for and stood for, we've lost. Because of you."

Tony rolled his eyes at her, "That's in no way true-"

"Yes it is. Had you simply understood that for the greater good, we should have been allowed to keep our hands untied, none of this would have happened."

"In what way is it for the greater good to have you guys running around freely doing whatever the hell you want?"

"In what way is it better to have us locked up?"

Tony let out a dry chuckle before turning away from her, though he did not look at Sam to speak to him. Instead, his head was bowed down and he seemed to be thinking about something.

"You all think he's so special, right? Steve Rogers, the first Avenger, fighting for the world's freedom and safety. The guy can't even fly."

"That's not what makes him special-"

"Everything special about him came out of a bottle!"

Tony had whirled around as he said that, staring at Maria with wide eyes.

"No…" she whispered gently. "You know, for a smart guy, you're really stupid. Your father made that serum, and you don't even know the big secret behind Captain America becoming Captain America and not some crazed super soldier ready to destroy the world? Like the Red Skull?"

"What do you mean?"

"Really?" scoffed Maria. "For the serum to work, it doesn't take a lot. Whoever you are, it'll work as long as you've got the right serum and the right amount of radiation. But with such power, most people turn evil. What Steve had in his heart, his personality, made him Captain America. He stayed himself because he stayed true to his heart, and his heart was good."

"You should work for Disney, they like stories like that," joked Tony dryly.

"What I mean is that yes, his strength came from a bottle. But that's not what we like about him – love about him. It's what is actually special about him. His heart. His goodness. His mental strength. He'd never give up as long as he fights for what he believes in."

"Is that it? Is that what he's doing now?" asked Tony quietly, his eyes seeming to have taken in what Maria said. He neared her cell, looking her straight in the eyes. "Fighting for what he believes in?"

"Look," said Sam from his cell, though Tony kept staring at Maria. "For us to tell you where Steve went, you're gonna have to pull off some pretty bad-ass bad-cop routines. We're not telling Ross anything."

Maria pointed back to the camera, turning to glance at it once when she noticed something strange. Tony smirked as she realized the little red light beside the lens was out.

"Yeah, I just knocked the 'A' out of their 'AV'. We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment," said Tony, showing to everyone a small device he had hidden in his hand. He rolled up his sleeve to reveal a watch (which earned a rather annoyed look from Sam) to show to everyone a holographic image of a man with dark hair and glasses. "Just look. Because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes. Clearly, I made a mistake. M, I was wrong."

"That's a first," commented Sam under his breath.

"Cap is definitely off the reservation, but he's about to need all the help he can get. Just… Just tell me."

Maria and Sam shared a glance over Tony's head. He was finally listening, finally understanding what was actually going wrong.

Maria nodded her head.

"But if you go… You don't go as one of Ross' employees," she warned him.

"And you have to go alone. Alone… And as a friend," added Sam.

"Easy," replied Tony with a shrug.

Both Maria and Sam proceeded to quickly tell Tony where Steve and Bucky were going. Scott kept his eyes at the security camera in his cell, making sure the red light did not come back before they had finished talking. And as Tony, hurriedly, moved away from them, Maria hoped they had done the right thing… That they had not just caused Steve even more troubles.


	23. Chapter 23

**Alright, another update! Wanted to update earlier but life got in the way. I'm still not really back to normal yet after what happened so I have zero motivation to write, but I had this and at least one more update after this ready, so I figured I could at least read it through and update for you guys. :)**

 **Thanks to those who favorited and followed, always makes me smile when I get a notication telling me someone has!**

 **And a special thanks** **to love . fiction.2017 and lovingvamp346 who reviewed! :D**

 **Also, lovingvamp, I completely agree with you. Tony's too full of himself but also afraid. His fear makes him not want to take responsibility for anything anymore and so he confides in Ross and the accords to make him feel better. I feel like Tony would have come to his senses after a while and decided to apologize to them all, but then Steve busts them out so it can't happen.**

 **Guys! Before you start reading, the first sentence of this chapter, as immature as my brain is, may sound a bit sexual... But it made me laugh so I didn't change it XD I suppose if I hadn't said anyting no one would have noticed but... oh well :P**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 23**

* * *

Breathing heavily, Steve rolled off of Tony, taking some seconds to catch his breath before he stood up again. His body ached where Tony had managed to get in some good punches, though now it was over. No more fighting. No more pain. It was over.

He gripped his shield and pulled it from the chest of Tony's suit. The arc-light buzzed slightly as he did so, though it did not come back to life. Tony rolled over to his side, breathing equally as heavy as Steve. He watched his previous friend walk over to Bucky.

"That shield doesn't belong to you!" Steve stopped walking, his back still facing Tony who could not see Steve's reaction. "You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!"

 _Four men, one woman. I… I stole the formula… I stole it from Stark – Oh, God, Steve… I killed Stark…_

Lifting his chin up, Steve let the shield fall to the ground. It clattered loudly and Tony watched with wide, horrified eyes as Steve simply walked away from the shield towards Bucky, helping the poor one-armed man up to his feet before they both limped even further away from Tony. It was done. It was over.

Half-unconscious, Bucky clung to Steve. There was no direct blood coming from where Tony had ripped his arm off, though seeing as Bucky obviously had some form of feeling in his metal arm, Steve could not even begin to comprehend the pain his friend was in. The door was still open just like it had been when they had arrived, and outside, T'Challa was standing with Zemo tied up on the snow-clad ground in front of him. T'Challa wore his suit, though had removed his mask, holding it under his arm.

"Your highness," greeted Steve once more.

"Steve," greeted T'Challa, his eyes looking from Bucky to Zemo. "I wanted to apologize. I wanted to avenge my father's death. And I thought… I believed the media when they said it was your friend Bucky-"

"It's okay," said Steve with a hint of a smile on his lips. "No need to apologize."

Bucky let out a groan.

"No. There is need to apologize. But words will not suffice. Please… Let me help. You are fugitives in your world. Let me take you to my world. Let me help you and your friend."

Steve glanced down at Bucky who could barely stay upright. He knew he was a real fugitive by now and indeed he had no real means to help Bucky while being a fugitive. No hospital would take them in, nor did any hospital have the means to help Bucky with his _metal_ arm.

"Alright. But we need to make two stops first."

* * *

 **Avengers HQ**

The jet landed and Steve, glancing back towards Bucky who was sound asleep at the back of the jet, stepped out. They had landed in the forest surrounding the HQ, just in case some of the Avengers had returned home already. And when Steve overlooked the premises, he did indeed see the red hair of Natasha walk over to the garage. Sneaking as best as he could, he quickly made his way over the grass and inside the compound.

A strange sensation of calmness overcame him when he entered the empty living room area. He glanced at the sofas where the Avengers not too long ago had sat and argued over the accords, remembering how close Maria had been sitting to him. He let his fingers trace over the sofa, a soft smile gracing his lips at the memory of her smile. Though he had to snap himself out of the trance, knowing the others were here and that he only had come to gather the belongings of those Avengers that had not stepped away from what they used to be.

Luckily, the corridor was empty of any Avengers. Though seeing as all the doors were closed, Steve still snuck down the corridor quietly in case any of the Avengers were in their rooms. He started with Wanda's room, grabbing a bag from underneath her bed and carefully placing her belongings in it. Steve smiled sadly at a picture of her and Pietro as children, smiling at the camera and hugging each other lovingly. He placed that picture on top of her clothes, careful to not break it.

Next was Sam's room. Seeing as Sam valued his wings above anything else, he did not have that many belongings at the Avengers HQ. Most of his stuff were probably at the house; a place Steve was not going to visit as he was sure it was watched securely. Instead, he packed a bag half-full of clothes before moving on to the next room; Maria's and his.

He stepped inside and was overcome with memories and emotions. The closet where Maria had tried to stuff all her clothes into after a shopping trip with Wanda and Natasha; the desk where Steve had found Maria asleep once after she and Tony had played a multiplayer game all night long; the bed… the sheets…

Opening up the closet, Steve packed two of his outfits before making sure to pack as much of Maria's outfits as possible. He remembered her having a small modelling show for him after she had bought all of those clothes and he remembered how good she had looked in them. But most importantly he had remembered which ones she had told him were the most comfortable ones, and seeing as Maria enjoyed comfortable clothes, he chose the ones that he remembered were comfortable. Having no other real belongings apart from their phones, which they had to destroy so Tony could not track them, Steve zipped the bag up and grabbed all three bags in one hand before sneaking out the same way he had gotten in. Neither Scott nor Clint had a room in the HQ, and so Steve had nothing more to do in there.

However, as he reached the living room and caught a glimpse of the staircase leading up towards the office, he paused. He remembered how he had told Maria that one should always end a relationship on a good notice, and not as enemies. Mainly because a friendship had good memories, and even though you cannot be friends with them anymore, you want to treasure those memories and not make them into sad memories. Steve had many good memories with Tony. Such as the first time he and Tony had helped each other on the helicarrier; the first time they had had a day out where Tony showed Steve all the places his father used to enjoy spending time at (albeit Howard didn't seem to have brought Tony with him); the day Tony had opened up about his and Peggy's relationship and the two had reminisced about her all evening; the day Steve had successfully, and easily, beaten Tony in an arm wrestling match which originally had been started by Clint and Thor… He could not let his memories with Tony turn bad. And he could not allow himself to be seen as a villain in Howard Stark's son's eyes.

Having made up his mind, Steve walked back over the grass and towards the jet hidden in the forest.

T'Challa turned the engines back on as Steve closed the door behind him.

"Sorry, but we need to send a package as well," said Steve quietly. "Oh, and buy a phone."

"Very well," said T'Challa simply, bowing his head as Steve sat down in the seat next to him. "And then we'll track down your friends."

"Our friends."

He still knew Tony was a good person, even though he had made a slight mistake. But that is what people do; make mistakes. And their friends, their true friends, are always there to forgive them. Just like Steve was now.

* * *

"Are you Tony Stank?"

Rhodey bit his lip, failing to keep all of his laughter in as he watched the old FedEx driver stand on the other side of the glass-door, staring over at them with expecting eyes.

"Yes, this is- this is Tony Stank. You're in the right place. Thank you for that!" Rhodey turned to Tony, sitting next to him on the floor with an annoyed look on his face, "I'm never dropping that."

Tony sighed, sitting up and walking over to the window, opening it up to sign the papers and take the package from the old man while Rhodey continued to make fun of him. With the package under his arm, Tony helped Rhodey back to his wheelchair before he excused himself to his office. The package held no indication of who it was from and he was rather curious. Especially since he could not remember buying anything new.

Walking up the stairs towards the living room, crossing it without saying hello to Natasha and Vision, walking up yet another flight of stairs, he finally reached his desk and opened the package on his own. Out fell a phone, a simple phone with all indications of what sort of phone it was scraped off of its outer shell. A letter was accompanied with the phone and Tony quickly read it, his curiosity turning into sadness as he immediately recognized the handwriting.

 _Tony, I'm glad you're back at the compound. I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. I've been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army. My faith's in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't. I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself, and I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. That's all any of us should do. When you read this letter, the family members that are imprisoned will not be imprisoned anymore. I know you would have done the same had it been the other way around, and therefore I hope you will forgive me for what I've done. But Maria, Wanda, Clint… None of them should be imprisoned._

 _We're still friends in my head. So, no matter what, I promise you, if you need us, if you need me, we'll be there._

* * *

 **Rift Prison**

"I wager the sun is on the rise… it must be nearly dawn." Sam's voice echoed through the corridor. The lights were kept on at all times, staying on a murky light-level that made it impossible for either of their natural sleep patterns to work. Maria felt like she had been awake for over 48 hours, even though she was unsure of how long she had actually been down there. Not to mention that her tiredness could be because of the baby.

"I got that reference," said Maria with a hint of a smile on her lips, though she was too tired to actually smile.

Several times a guard had been down there to convince Maria to come with them to the medical facility. Though Maria did not want to. She didn't trust Ross or the government to not try and use her abilities for their own good, the way Hydra had once tried to do by cloning her… She smirked at how absurd those thoughts were, comparing the government with Hydra… Then again… Who knows?

"Do you think we're going to get a TV at least?" asked Scott. "I'm gonna go insane if I have to stay in here much longer without any sort of entertainment."

"All I want is a night… Just some darkness…"

Wanda let out a groan, "How long are they going to keep us locked up in here?"

"Not for long."

All heroes straightened up at the sound of the extra voice, especially as they recognized the voice immediately. Maria shifted to lean against the bars, longing to see the face belonging to that voice. For God knows how long, all she had been able to see were memories of his face. But now… Now she would finally be able to see the real-deal.

"I've got T'Challa hacking the security," said Steve seriously as he paced back and forth. "Just a few more seconds."

Just as he said that, the dimly lit lights suddenly turned a red shade. The alarm had gone off, though Steve seemed calm.

"What's that?" asked Sam.

"The distraction," smirked Steve before the bars of all the cells opened up.

Without a beat of hesitation, Steve ran over to Maria's cell, embracing her and looking her over carefully. Her heart beat quicker than she had ever thought she'd hear it beat as she, with shaking hands, placed her hands on his handsome face. It shone with happiness of seeing her again and seemed more handsome than she had remembered it.

"Quickly," whispered Steve, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek before grabbing her hand, leading her and the others towards the door at the end of the corridor. Wanda was helped out of her straightjacket by Clint and immediately she shifted to stand next to Maria. They grabbed each other's hands as well, happiness filling their every atom at finally being free again.

They caught a glimpse of some guards running the opposite way, away from them, and before Maria or any of the others knew it, they were at the top of the prison, smelling fresh air again. The sounds of water crashing against the sides of the prison caused everyone apart from Steve to grow curious and as they neared the jet, they saw the prison was right in the middle of the ocean.

"Hey! Look, it's dawn!"

Maria and the others smiled over at Sam at the sight of the sun carefully peaking up from over the horizon and it took quite a bit of convincing before either of them followed Steve inside of the jet. Bucky was greeted kindly by everyone as they entered, bombarding him with questions over his arm and what had happened, though Steve simply ushered them further inside of the jet so they could take off.

"Rescue successful then," said T'Challa kindly, smiling over at the confused heroes, to which Steve chuckled.

"It's okay, he's on our side now," explained Steve who sat down in the chair next to Maria, his hand finding hers again while the jet took off, flying away from the prison.

"Yes! I knew you wouldn't let us down Steve," smiled Sam before leaning back in his chair.

"I even managed to get my hands on your gear," smiled Steve, pointing towards the back of the jet where indeed all of their gear lied in a heap next to three duffle bags.

"Now," said Maria, looking over at T'Challa, Steve and Bucky. "We want a mission report."

With the jet flying away from the prison, the ocean being the only thing anyone could see if they looked through a window, Steve, Bucky and T'Challa proceeded to tell them everything that they had missed right from where Maria and Steve had parted. Everyone had been shocked when Steve told them that the super soldiers had been killed by the doctor they had been after and when T'Challa told them what the doctor's original plan had been right from the start, everyone had grown quiet. Even with everyone's losses and their sacrifices to try and save the world, they had still failed. Yes, the world was safe but it had never really been in danger either. The doctor's, or Zemo's, plan had been to destroy what was keeping the world safe; the Avengers. And all that just to avenge his family who had died in Sokovia. His plan had worked… the Avengers were split, destroyed. Together they could keep the world safe, but they were not together anymore.

Therefore, Maria was relieved to hear Steve had offered Tony a phone to call him on, should the Avengers need them again.

"So… We're no Avengers anymore," sighed Sam.

"At least I got a taste of what it felt like," sighed Scott.

"And now? Where are we going now?" asked Wanda, who seemed to take the whole no-Avengers-anymore thing rather well.

"Wakanda. My home. My world. You will be safe there," explained T'Challa. "I will personally make sure that none of you are hunted in my country."

"Thank you," said Maria quietly.

T'Challa nodded his head at her before turning back to the controls, "We will be there in half an hour."

"Should be, uh, enough time to uh, reveal some secrets," coughed Sam, glancing over at Maria.

She sighed, standing up with Steve's hand still in hers, "Can we talk?"

Steve nodded, standing up and letting her guide him to the back of the jet where she sat the two of them down on a couple of foldable seats. No one could hear them from that far off, apart from Bucky and his super-hearing. Luckily, he already knew.

"Wow…" she breathed, nervously staring at Steve who was beginning to look a little worried.

"Is this the thing you promised me you would tell me after everything was over?" asked Steve quietly.

Maria nodded, "I've been wanting to tell you this for days now but… I literally thought of a thousand ways that I could tell you this while I was locked up and now that you're here in front of me, it's close to impossible to even say the words. I'm still afraid you're going to put me on the bench. Even though everything is over."

"Whatever it is," began Steve, moving closer to her and grabbing both of her hands. "I doubt it's worse than anything we've just been through the past couple of days."

"I'm pregnant."


	24. Chapter 24

**This chapter is looong, but I think it makes up for the slightly longer wait. Well, the real reason it's so long is because I added the last part just towards the end when I got a very impulsive idea. But this sort of ties her together with others in a way that's good for future stories (that is if you guys want to read more about Maria and Steve).**

 **Let me know what you think about the last part, and also, let me know what you guys think of the new info you get here in this chapter. I could have described it better, but to be fair, Maria doesn't understand much either but she will once future stories are published, and so will you guys :) Enjoy!**

 **Thanks to those who favorited and followed!**

 **And a special thanks** **to love . fiction.2017 who reviewed! :D**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 24**

* * *

 _"I'm pregnant."_

Steve stared at her, not blinking, not reacting. Just staring. His face paled considerably, though he remained motionless.

"I know I said that this was not a pregnancy, that I can't, or rather 'couldn't', get pregnant. But it is. It's a pregnancy. I'm pregnant – Steve, why are you not reacting?"

She was worried now. Truly worried. Never in her life had Steve not replied to something that she had told him. He always listened intently to whatever she had to say, even though he sometimes could barely follow her train of thoughts due to them coming from different eras. Yet, he always replied, even if it was with a question. Now, when Maria came with the biggest news in the world, Steve was quiet and showed no sign of having heard anything of what she said after the words 'I'm pregnant'.

"Steve?"

Finally, his gaze flickered with a strange light, his eyes changing. His usual calm, blue orbs were completely riddled with questions and fear; uncertainty. And then a horrific thought must have struck him as he gasped, rushing forwards to grasp her hands and hold them close to him while crouching in front of her.

"I let you fight against Tony and the others!"

"Steve, no-"

"You could have gotten hurt! Or worse!"

"No, listen to me, Steve, that was my choice. I... I kept this from you because I knew you wouldn't allow me to help you out. And I desperately wanted to be by your side. I think a part of me was afraid that, if we split up, we might not see each other again... But it turns out that, even when split up, you come back for me." She smiled softly at him, shifting her fingers so they were intertwined with his. He let out a sigh, sitting crouched in front of her with his head basically resting in her lap.

"I... You're pregnant... But you said you couldn't- Maria, if I had known, I would've been more careful, I promise! Please don't think bad of me-"

"Bad of you?" interrupted Maria, her eyes narrowing in complete and utter confusion. "Why on Earth would I think badly of you? You are the most perfect thing that has ever happened to me and you think that I can think badly of you?" She nearly scoffed him right in the face, though instead pecked his forehead with her lips. "What you apparently think you've 'done' to me, is not bad. Steve, this is literally all I've ever wanted. Besides, I had a pretty big part in this as well."

Steve smirked before blushing, composing himself and shifting so he was sitting next to her on a seat. "I... I will admit that I never thought it would happen. I honestly didn't think I even could have children."

"You too? Why?"

"Just something I assumed seeing as my life had already been so miserable. Not to mention that I didn't have much luck with any of the ladies back then either."

"Their loss, by the way," assured Maria, their hands still intertwined as he had not let go of her yet.

"And now that it actually happened... It just feels completely insane! Not only did I think you couldn't after your accident... But... Wow..."

"You okay?" Maria looked him over, seeing his face go pale again.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, this is amazing. I-I honestly do like kids."

"It's funny how people say that. Because, just 'cause you don't like others' kids, doesn't mean that you won't love your own child."

Steve simply smiled at her words, gently letting his thumb trace over the palm of her hand. "We're pregnant…" he breathed before the two of them exchanged a look. Suddenly, both were filled with complete joy and the two let out a squeal before embracing each other in a loving hug.

"I promise to protect the two of you against everything that may harm you." The way he sincerely whispered it into her ear made her shiver and she pulled away from the hug, looking into his eyes. "Nothing will harm the two of you ever."

"Steve Rogers aka Captain America, you're going to be the best father in the world."

Steve smiled at her words before gently hugging her again, one arm draped around her back and the other still holding her hand. He lightly kissed her hair before trailing kisses all the way down her ear and down to her shoulder. She leaned in to the touch, a faint fire stirring up inside of her.

"You know..." she purred, gently nuzzling her nose against his. "Earlier this week when you were holding that chopper down with only your own strength and you were showing off all your muscles..." Steve blushed, immediately recognizing the tone in her voice. "It was very hot."

He simply cleared his throat, looking back over at Bucky who had quickly turned away, pretending he couldn't hear anything just like the others.

"Pity we don't have the jet to ourselves."

Steve's blush became more imminent, though a faint smirk appeared on his lips, his thumb gently tracing over the engagement ring on her finger.

"We might at some point," purred Steve back into her ear, causing her to gasp up at him.

"Well, well, so Captain America does have a naughty side after all," teased Maria before she leaned in towards his lips, lightly teasing him by only letting her upper lip brush against his, staying millimetres away from his lips even as he moved in to kiss her.

"Well if a man can't please his soon-to-be wife, what is he good for?"

She chuckled at him, placing a light kiss against his lips, "I like this new side of yours..."

* * *

 **Wakanda, medical facility.**

"You sure about this?" asked Steve quietly, standing before Bucky with Maria's arm intertwined with his.

"I can't trust my own mind. So, until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going back under is the best thing… for everybody."

Maria did not miss the faint flicker of his gaze down to her belly. Her heart ached slightly at this, and she grabbed a tighter hold of Steve's arm.

"In that case, we'll see each other again," said Maria quietly, leaning down to plant a soft kiss to his cheek.

Smiling at the blush appearing on Bucky's cheeks, Steve and Maria turned around to leave the room. And from a nearby overlook, they watched through a glass wall as the doctors gently lay Bucky down on a cot before it was enclosed in a tube-like case. Fog suddenly iced up the glass of the tube and Bucky fell asleep, his eyes closing with a flutter. Steve shivered at the flashback to his time in the ice, causing Maria to lean her head against his shoulder while the two of them watched in silence as the doctors continued to work around Bucky, securing his cryo-chamber.

T'Challa's reflection appeared next to theirs on the glass.

"Thank you for this," said Steve silently.

"Your friend and my father, they were both victims. If I can help one of them find peace…"

"You know, if they find out he's here… They'll come for him," warned Steve, glancing over at T'Challa.

"Let them try."

Maria smiled, causing T'Challa to smile as well.

"If I'm not mistaken, the doctors are done with the bloodwork. If you will follow me, Miss Dalton," said T'Challa, beginning to walk away from the glass-wall.

With their fingers intertwined, Steve and Maria followed the King of Wakanda towards the other side of the medical facility where both Maria and Bucky had left numerous blood-samples for the doctors to work on earlier that day. For Bucky, it was about finding a cure for what had happened inside of his mind, for which he did not have to leave as much blood-samples as Maria seeing as it was mostly psychological. Though Maria's blood-samples were both to check on the baby, and to check up on what was going on with her. Meaning double the blood-work which had caused Maria to feel rather light-headed afterwards. Or rather, more light-headed than of late.

The moment they had landed and the moment they had been shown to their part of Wakanda, each Avenger had been given a small hut to live in on the outskirts of a beautiful tropical forest where the King of Wakanda lived - and also where the Black Panther had always lived. Maria and Steve had immediately sat down to talk everything over one more time, and Steve had once more told his story of how he and Tony had fought and how he had left his shield behind. Currently, Steve was unsure of whether or not he was Captain America still and a part of him did not want to be it anymore either. He figured the world had had enough of Captain America and might need some help from Steve Rogers instead and when it needed him, he would be ready.

Maria had instead told her part of the story for the first time. Steve's face had twisted into one filled with guilt and pain as she told him about what had happened to her at the airport, especially when she mentioned all the blood and _where_ the blood had come from. Though she was still fatigued and weak the way she had been before the blood, and therefore they both were hoping that nothing had really happened. Perhaps her healing abilities had shielded the baby, they thought.

Now, the two of them were on their way to the doctor who was about to either confirm their hopes, or crush them.

T'Challa showed Maria to a cot where she hopped up with some help from Steve. He stayed standing up behind her, one of his hands resting on her hip while the other one was gently rubbing circles on her arm, soothing her and himself as they waited patiently for the doctor to arrive.

"I hope you were okay with my asking him to look into your abilities as well," said T'Challa, breaking the silence in the room.

"Oh – Yeah, that's fine," nodded Maria. "Can I ask why?"

"That sword you carry. I've seen it's likes before. It is not of this world," explained T'Challa. "And only special people can carry those swords."

"Who?" asked Maria, remembering how Steve had been able to hold her sword.

"The dead," said T'Challa, causing Maria to gawk at him slightly before she recuperated, asking him to repeat himself. Steve had stopped rubbing circles on her arm, listening intently. "The dead. But also sometimes those who are links between our world and the world of the dead."

"Oh… Yeah… Right…" stammered Maria. "Completely normal."

T'Challa smirked at her reaction, "Let's just wait until the doctor arrives with his results."

"What do you mean? Is it dangerous if she is a… link?"

"Possibly," sighed T'Challa. "That is why I wanted to see what your powers truly are."

"I'm just a mutant. Nothing else," breathed Maria, shaking her head.

T'Challa stayed quiet, nodding his head half-heartedly at her words. Minutes later, the doctor arrived wearing pure-white clothing.

"Ah, Miss Dalton. Mr Rogers," he greeted them, shaking their hands. "I'm Doctor Cayman. I've been given a few hours with your bloodwork, Miss Dalton, and there are a few… remarks."

Maria glanced back at Steve who took a deep breath, nodding his head at her that he was prepared for whatever he may have to say.

"Before we begin, I just want to say that I have degrees in both biology, genetics and biophysics. I even wrote a paper on the genetical enhancements of mutants. Which means I have seen quite a few things in my life when it comes to mutants."

Maria nodded her head, watching as the doctor turned around towards a large screen behind them, pressing a few buttons on it. As he turned back around, she noticed a small pendant around his neck in the shape of a panther's head.

"Charles Xavier."

She nodded, "You know of him?"

"I do. I'm glad you do too. He has done much for your people," he said with a soft smile on his face. "He told you some things, I presume."

Maria nodded again, "He showed me that I don't just have healing abilities. But also some, uh, telekinetic abilities."

"He felt that, I assume," nodded the doctor. "But I can see more than he can feel, just by simply looking at your DNA."

The doctor showed to her and Steve an image of a double helix that was clearly a piece of her DNA, only shown to them as a picture due to the enhanced computers Wakanda seemed to have. Before their eyes, it untwisted itself and broke apart. Some of the unbroken parts were highlighted before the doctor turned back towards Maria and Steve, T'Challa staying in a corner simply watching.

"This may seem like obvious to you and you may be more interested in your baby's well-being, but trust me when I say that this is important for the baby's well-being as well. For you to understand what is going on with your baby, who is perfectly fine and healthy by the way," the doctor smiled at them as both Steve and Maria beamed with joy and relief, "Your DNA's not like any other human's DNA. It's, if I use easier words, special. Of course you already know that you were born with the mutant genes of your father or mother-"

"Father," interrupted Maria. "My father had them as well."

"Your father," corrected doctor Cayman, "When forced to a great extent, your genes can go dormant. I believe this has happened to you before, as not all of your mutant genes are active to this very present day."

"Uh, yeah. Professor Xavier told me that…" She sighed, preparing herself to remember it again, "That my mother's abuse to me was the reason for it. She, uh, wanted me to be normal and not like my father whom she grew to hate. When I used my powers I sort of reminded her of him, and she didn't like that. After everything she did, I forgot my powers."

"You forgot, because they were forced into hibernation. Many mutants don't discover their powers until they are teens or young children. That is when they are activated. Usually because of something happening in their lives to excite them to the point of 'turning', as some call it. You were a special case, I believe."

"Yeah, I was born with my powers. My father mentioned something about me making my dolls move without using my hands when I was just a toddler."

"So her genes were re-awoken when she had a trauma a couple years ago," added Steve. "But you said they're not all awake?"

"Well, they're awake, but not active. The moment you become aware of them though, you'll activate them again," said the doctor. "These base pairs that I have highlighted on the screen are your mutant powers. Two of these make sure your healing capabilities work. Three of these are for your telekinetic powers."

"There are two left," noted Maria, staring at the screen.

The doctor nodded his head, the screen now only highlighting the last two base pairs of her DNA, "These are… Strange. They're made of no base sugars I have ever seen. And I have seen a lot of mutant bloodwork. They're… Special. But they weren't impossible to figure out."

He walked over to a lamp, T'Challa turning off the main lightning in the room until only that lamp was illuminating one corner of the room.

"Please. Make it dark in here."

Maria glanced back at Steve who looked rather alarmed at what was happening, before she turned back to the doctor, "Pardon?"

"Make the lamp's light go away."

She fought against the impulse to just walk over to it and turn it off. And a part of her wanted to turn the switch with her powers. Though as the darkness formed around her, she was suddenly remembered of what her mind had looked like when Wanda had gotten to her a year or two back. How the darkness around the lights turned on had seemed to be something… Something darker than shadows.

Without even trying, the darkness around the lamp, which was not a lot of darkness seeing as the sun was shining in through the windows, suddenly became an intense darkness that could only have been described as a void. Small hands appeared from that darkness, moving into the light of the lamp and suddenly, everything was pitch dark. Whispers were heard for a brief second and then Maria gasped out of fear when she realized she was doing that, and the darkness disappeared and the sunlight returned to the room.

Steve's hands tensed on her body and she glanced back at him, seeing him looking around the room in surprise.

"What-"

"That was those genes I found. Funny how Xavier did not notice them," mumbled the doctor.

T'Challa walked up to the doctor, "A link. Those whispers you heard…"

"Why does everything about me always have to be about death?"

Her past. The media's name for her; Mater Mortis (mother of death). Her strange shadowy powers apparently being a link to the world of the dead…

"Not everything," said the doctor with a smile, moving over to the screen again. The image of the broken apart DNA was moved to a corner while a new picture appeared instead; vital signs of two people.

"The baby," smiled Steve, his hands relaxing again.

"The baby's vitals are splendid. It's got what it needs for a three-month-old foetus. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a more healthy baby in my life. However… There are some odd things," said the doctor, causing both Maria's and Steve's smiles to falter. "The baby is… Strong. And quite extraordinary so too. I examined some of Mr Barnes' bloodwork and the serum he has in his DNA seems rather… similar to what I saw in the baby's."

"You mean the super soldier serum is in the baby? It transferred?" asked Steve quietly.

"It did. And with any normal mother, the baby would not have been able to be carried. The mother would have been drained of any nutrition she eats, and the baby would have been too powerful for the womb. But, this is where your powers come into play. Albeit you should not be able to carry this child either, your powers are actively healing anything around the womb. Your powers are making sure this baby is alright. Your powers are saving both you and your baby."

"That's why I'm weak," deduced Maria. "Because the baby's got so many needs? And… when I use my powers-"

"You distract them from keeping the baby safe, which is why it hurts," nodded the doctor. "I can help you to not be exhausted all the time. All you need to do is take a shot of a small concoction I've prepared for you, every day. Each month, however, I will need to check up on you so that you don't need more of the concoction. But that is it. The baby's fine."

"But the blood…" started Steve.

"It was because I was pushing my powers to such an extent and for so long. That blood is what would happen if I didn't have my powers," realized Maria, glancing back at Steve who looked like he was ready to apologize to her. Though she smiled at him, gently leaning back against his chest. "I'll just sit on the bench for the remaining six months."

Steve smirked.

A small beep was suddenly heard and the doctor looked down at his phone, "I need to be somewhere. One of the nurses will give you the concoction and show you how to inject it on your own. Good day."

With that said, the doctor hurried out of the room, leaving the three of them on their own.

"Thank you," said Maria quietly, looking over at T'Challa who simply smiled at her.

"You were afraid her powers might be dangerous?" remembered Steve.

"Yes. But it turns out you are simply a link. There have been legends about those swords coming down from the sky. Only the dead could touch them and those who were links between that realm and this one."

"And… being a link means what exactly?"

"Nobody knows. Except for the fact that all those links have been able to control the shadows, like you apparently can. Whether these legends come from mutants like yourselves, or if they are something more… powerful, I do not know. But it looks like it is simply something made up by people who knew no better than to believe you were godlike."

She nodded her head, still confused.

"There are cave paintings not too far away from here, if you want to see them, I can take you," smiled T'Challa.

"I'd love that," replied Maria, although her voice quivered with uncertainty. "And… the swords came from the sky?"

"It is believed they are not of this world."

"Alien?" asked Steve with a raised brow.

"There are four other swords like yours on this earth, stolen from Wakanda during one of my forefather's reigns. Where the other three are, I do not know…"

* * *

 **Asgard.**

Wandering down the catacombs in search of something he had seen on one of his trips, Thor Odinson's footsteps echoed against the walls, a torch in one hand and Mjölnir in his other hand. He had seen a shield being auctioned off, one he had seen on Asgard in his father's and forefather's treasures. If they had stolen it, it meant Thor had found himself another adventure to go on, and a part of him wished it had been stolen even if it meant that he would have to go and tell his father… Which he was not looking forward to as Odin would be furious.

As he walked, something caught his eye which caused him to stop. To his left the treasures had already begun to pile up and there, amongst the gold, he saw a sword lying quietly. He smirked, remembering his friend on Midgard who had been quite excellent at swordsmanship. There were runes on its blade from a language he did not recognize, and the pommel had beautiful gems on it.

"Lady Maria would like that as a gift when I meet her," thought Thor with a smile on his lips, putting the torch away so he could grab the sword.

However, as he went in to touch it, something sparked against his fingers and he was sent flying through the air, hitting the opposite stone wall with a boom. Groaning as he recuperated, he glanced over at the sword once more.

"Maybe not then…"

* * *

 **Sanctum Sanctorum, London.**

Cleaning up the house was not that difficult, even though Stephen Strange hated cleaning up. Though it was the least he could do if he was going to stay there, protecting the sanctum and its artefacts from anyone who could use it for bad intentions. The only part of the house he had yet to clean up, was the room filled with display cases and artefacts – the very artefacts he wanted to keep safe.

Sighing, he entered the room and began to clean up some of the glass, sweeping it up. It was quite honourable to be a 'hero', but there were still parts of his new life that were not equally as honourable… cleaning up, for instance. In his old life, he might have hired someone to do the job for him, though he was broke now… And a hero. He had to keep his mind off of his previous life, no matter how much he wanted to just slip into his old self and hire someone to clean everything for him. Though it had to be done. He was almost done, although he still had the entire Sanctum of New York to fix up as well… Strange tried not to think about that yet.

As he walked through the room, cleaning up bits of glass as he did, something caught his eye. He turned and looked at one of the display cases still intact and the artefact inside. A sword was on display there, its blade holding runes he could not read and its pommel decorated with beautiful gems.

He wondered where it had come from, an answer he might be able to get in the near future.

Sighing, he went back to work.

* * *

 **Ego, billions of lightyears away from Earth, at the very least.**

"Wow! Look at this!"

Peter ran past Gamora and Drax towards one of the display cases ahead of them. Together with Mantis, or rather under the supervision of her, the three of them had been shown around Quill's father's treasury room where he had stored all of the treasures he had gathered over the years from different parts of the universe. Peter was running around to each display case as though he was a child at Christmas (a very Earthy expression Gamora had picked up), clearly trying to prove to both her and Drax that his father was 'awesome'.

"It's a sword!" exclaimed Peter, pressing his nose against the glass, his breath fogging up some of it.

Gamora glanced at it, raising her eyebrow.

"Imagine if I can have it! I'd be Star Lord, the sword-wielding Guardian of the Galaxy," said Peter, taking a step away from the glass cage, his eyes roaming it. "I wonder how this opens…"

"You'd be a terrible swordsman," stated Drax, furrowing his brow.

"Yes, thank you for the support Drax," mumbled Peter, continuing to search for a way to open the glass cage.

"You would be, because you won't be able to touch that sword," stated Gamora, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, it's out there now. You two are officially the worst friends a guy can have," sighed Peter, glaring at Drax and Gamora.

Gamora sighed, pointing towards the sword's blade, "You can't touch it because of what the runes say. It's clearly not yours."

"Uh – What do the runes say?"

Gamora rolled her eyes even though she had figured only she could read them (and maybe also Peter's celestial father). Thanos had taught her all languages in the Universe. There was not a lot she could not read.

"They say it belongs to one person alone. The runes spell out the name as well, but I can't pronounce it," said Gamora.

"Try," shrugged Peter.

"Uh... M-Mariarogers."

Peter and Drax glanced at each other before they both shrugged, "Never heard of. Oo! Look at that!"

Rolling her eyes, Gamora followed Peter as he ran away from the sword to another display cage. Though she did not miss the way the gems on the pommel illuminated as she tried her best to pronounce the name and she wondered who this Mariarogers was.


	25. Chapter 25

**Okay, so, we're nearing the end. There's some minor stuff left to explain to you all and then of course the wedding and the birth!**

 **Seeing as there will be a hiatus between this story and the next (infinity war is not out yet after all), I was thinking you all could let me know what you want to see! That is, if there's something special you want to read about. Maybe a scene between Wanda and Maria or more of the wedding planning, more about her pregnancy (which is rough, just letting you all know that and I might add some of that in the next chapter anyway) or overprotective Steve?**

 **Oh! And baby names... I have no idea what to name the baby. Nor what gender the baby is going to be :P Meaning, I'm open to suggestions.**

 **Thanks to those who favorited and followed!**

 **And a special thanks** **to love . fiction.2017 and a guest who reviewed! :D**

 **To answer your question, guest reviewer, I was not 100 % sure if I wanted to continue, to be honest. I have the perfect ending here in this story, but then I looked at everyone who loved this so much and figured 'hey, why not?'. Besides... I'm not really ready to let go of Maria yet :P So, yeah, I'm continuing this when infinity war comes out and whatever comes after that :)**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 25**

* * *

A week later, Maria and Steve had truly begun to feel at home in Wakanda. They had some of their fellow 'Avengers' as neighbors, living in smaller cottages in the outskirts of Wakanda, close to where the royal family, or rather T'Challa, lived. The hospital Bucky was being kept in was only a five minute drive away, the building being hid inside a barrier of trees and a mountain. Close to Steve and Maria's cottage was a river with a beautiful tropical forest on the other side of it. The water was calm and soothing, a lot of beautiful insects coming to the river especially in the evenings; insects that neither of them had seen before with bright colors – some of them even glowed in the dark. Though the calmness of the river was odd, seeing as it, when you followed it for a while, actually turned wild. The surface of the water bubbled and danced due to the great waterfall that cascaded down into it.

The mountain from which the water fell, was shaped oddly like a panther. When Sam had asked T'Challa about how they had gotten the mountain to look like that, T'Challa had simply stared at Sam as though he had offended their entire religion, before walking away without giving an answer. Sam and T'Challa had not really hit it off since that day.

According to T'Challa, a cave was supposed to exist near the waterfall, and as promised, T'Challa was going to take Maria there to show him what he had found about her 'powers' in there. She was still unsure of what she was going to find there, having only heard of the fact that there were old cave paintings there about what she could do, though she was still excited. Not because she wanted to find out more about herself, even though she did, but because that cave was so close to the waterfall and although she hated water, specifically oceans; waterfalls were still really beautiful, especially close up.

With a simple, pink dress on and some comfortable shoes so she could walk without being in pain, Maria sat in the living room, waiting for T'Challa to arrive. She and Steve had just finished eating breakfast and Steve had been the one to quickly wash everything up, something he had been doing a lot lately. He had just finished the last of the dishes when he entered the living room, his face revealing he was still thinking hard and in working-mode.

"Did you take your shot this morning?" asked Steve, earning a nod from Maria. "Do you have a jumper with you in case it gets colder? And some water in case you get thirsty? You should probably also bring a shot with you in case you need it-"

"Steve."

"Don't forget to eat lunch if the two of you are out there a long time. Careful of slippery rocks when you enter the cave, the water makes the surface-"

"Steve!"

Steve closed his mouth, "Did I let it slip out again?"

Maria stood up, a playful smile gracing her lips. Gently, she placed her hands on his upper arms, looking up at him with loving eyes, "Yes, honey. You did."

Doing the dishes after each meal was not the only thing Steve had been doing lately. Cleaning the house, going grocery shopping, driving the car (albeit that might be smart as Maria did not really have a driving's license to begin with), ordering food for her – the list of things Steve did for her without actually asking, was long. Maria had calmly told him that she could do things, reminding him of the fact that her powers were keeping the baby healthy and safe, and that she fought Tony and his team while pregnant less than a month ago. He had promised to hold it in as much as he could, but had also confessed that he worried about her 24/7. Sam had joked that Steve had turned into a mama-bear, which in turn had caused Scott to buy Steve a cup with just those words on it. Wanda had joined in on the joke as well and Steve was now the proud owner of a shirt with 'mama-bear' printed on it… He actually wore it with more pride than Maria was comfortable with, which did not help the joking from the other heroes.

"Sorry," he sighed, bowing his head in defeat.

"I don't mind it that much, at least I know I'm being taken care of," smiled Maria, leaning up onto her tip-toes to give him a hug.

Right then, a knock could be heard on the door and Maria quickly hurried to open it. T'Challa smiled at her, looking over her shoulder to greet Steve as well.

"It will be a simple ten minute walk, a small climb and then we're there," explained T'Challa, a backpack on his back.

"You hear? Nothing to worry about," said Maria, turning her head to look at Steve when she did.

He rolled his eyes at her before walking over to her and giving her a kiss on the cheek, "Don't be too long. Wanda will be over soon to plan more of the wedding-"

"Wedding?" asked T'Challa, looking from Maria to Steve with anticipating eyes.

"Yeah, we've been trying to get married for a while now," joked Maria, earning another eyeroll from Steve. "We figured this moment of peace, uh, as fugitives, was the perfect moment to actually have a ceremony."

"My people love weddings. It is the symbol of two people becoming one, for eternity," smiled T'Challa. "If you want, I can help you arrange something spectacular."

Maria gasped, looking back at Steve with wide eyes, "I would love that! Steve!?"

He chuckled at her enthusiasm, "Well, you did want a special wedding."

"A big one. Like Tony promised me," smiled Maria, beaming with happiness.

"Thor once joked he would arrange something on Asgard," smiled Steve, though his smile faltered as Maria looked at him seriously.

"He didn't joke. He meant it. Promised me even," said Maria. "Though I guess we can't really contact him about it."

"You weren't kidding on the 'big' part, were you?" chuckled Steve.

"I cannot promise something as… magical as I expect another world have been, but I can promise it will be amazing," said T'Challa, to which Maria squealed.

Steve smiled widely, pressing a soft kiss to her lips as goodbye before the two of them began their walk up the riverbend towards the waterfall. On her back, Maria had her backpack with necessary goods in them. She sported a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt, while also wearing a hat on her head to shield herself from the burning sun. With T'Challa taking the lead, they walked over stones and through mud. Sometimes they stopped so T'Challa could show her something like a special sort of flower or insect.

Long story short, Maria's smile did not falter all the way over to the waterfall. She truly enjoyed her time. So much, even, that T'Challa was the one to remind her to keep drinking water.

Time flew by, and before she knew it they were at the base of the waterfall. Dampness touched her face, little drops of water accidentally splatting onto her from time to time. It made tremendously much noise, and so T'Challa had to scream when he told her they were going to have to climb up. He looked at her with wondering eyes, though she simply smiled at him, taking out her gloves belonging to her suit.

She had been prepared for something like this.

"Will they work on damp stone!?" asked T'Challa as they stood at the base of the cliff, right beside the waterfall.

"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see!" she said back, winking at him once to which he chuckled, all though Maria didn't hear him chuckle.

T'Challa took the lead, using only his bare hands to climb. Maria was close behind him, feeling utterly relieved when she realized her special made gloves worked even on damp surfaces.

"Thank you Stark," mumbled Maria as she took her first leap up the cliff, hanging only from her hands before she found two good spots to place her feet.

The climb took some time, Maria not being the best at climbing to begin with and the climb itself actually being very long. T'Challa looked back at her midway, gaining her attention. He gestured upwards and she saw a flicker of light coming from the middle of the cliff. She looked at him questioningly, and he simply smirked.

The flicker of light had come from lit torches in the cave. T'Challa helped her up into it and once she was back on her feet, her breath was taken away.

From the beginning, the waterfall had been the prettiest sight of nature she had seen, though the sight of the cave she found herself in was a thousand times prettier. It's ceiling reached so high she was sure it went all the way up to the top of the cliff. The left wall had two holes in it, like little windows. Through it, Maria could see the waterfall rushing down over the holes, though the stream of water was thin enough there for her to see through the water and catch a look of the stunning view out there. She saw the small huts her fellow Avengers lived in and smiled, wondering what Steve was doing to occupy himself with while she was away.

Torches hung from every wall, though a beautiful blue light came from the two holes in the left wall. Not only that, but the sun managed to reflect through the waterfall, creating a stunning visage of light on the right wall. And there, beneath the dancing, bright lights, were the cave paintings T'Challa had promised her.

"Are these…?"

"Yes, they are. Made by ancestors of my people at least a century ago."

He watched her walk towards the wall, lightly touching the paintings. They resembled warriors, some dressed as panthers, some dressed as crocodiles, some as hyenas… and one figure standing before them all, with a sword shining brightly with two gems on it. The figure seeming to be leading them was painted as a skeleton, making Maria take a step back and place her hand over her barely visible baby bump.

T'Challa gestured her over to another part of the wall. There, she saw the skeleton figure with the sword standing around dead bodies. It was leaning over one of the bodies, stretching its hand out to it. A vague figure seemed to be pulled out from the body in the next painting and suddenly, the final painting resembling the dead bodies, had all of the dead bodies standing up again, a smile on their faces.

"Those who are links between the dead can bring the dead to life… And…" T'Challa moved over to another part of the wall. "Take life…"

Maria could only look at the painting T'Challa was showing her for a second or two before she turned away, hugging herself. The skeleton figure had been surrounded by dead bodies again, although this time the figure was also hovering over one half-dead body, reaching out to it with its sword. The way the people had been killed resembled much the imagination Maria had had a long time ago during her time as an assassin… and it made her feel awful to know that these cave paintings were so accurate.

"Maria?"

"I don't take lives anymore…"

"Of course not. And this is not you, Maria." T'Challa shifted to stand before her, looking at her with worried eyes. "I simply wanted to show you the legend you reminded me of."

"But… You _did_ think that was me, for a little while."

He sighed, finally nodding his head, "The signs were there. You can heal and have power over the shadows. Then again, there have been many mutants with the same kind of powers over the years… This was simply one mutant like you."

"Yeah…" sniffled Maria. "Besides, I can't give life back. I can't heal others."

"Have you tried?"

She stayed silent.

"But you have wanted to, have you not?"

"I found it stupid that I only could heal myself, yes. It felt selfish," sighed Maria.

"Does it matter if you are this hero-"

"I'm not a hero though, am I?"

T'Challa nearly scoffed at her remark, causing her to move away from him with a sour look on her face.

"No matter where I go, my past is always haunting me. I _murdered_ people, T'Challa. And you know what?" she turned towards him, her lips trembling. "I… liked it. I haven't told anyone that part, for fear that they would hate me. But those people..."

"They were bad people, no?"

She nodded her head. "That doesn't make it better."

"You were good at something. But you regret it now."

She nodded her head again.

"And last year you saved the world."

She stayed still; silent.

"The year before that you helped save the world too. And the year before _that_ you helped save the world too."

A sigh escaped her lips.

"And you still cannot call yourself a hero? Ignore these paintings. You are Maria Dalton. You _are_ a hero. All heroes have a origin story. Yours just happens to be dark."

A soft smile appeared on her lips.

"Stop beating yourself down, something I think you've done for quite some time now."

"Since the day Stark took me to SHIELD… I've never really felt like I could meet up to the standards the real heroes around me held."

"But now you have powers too," he smirked, which only made her roll her eyes, her smile growing bigger. "Come. I know how to make you feel better."

"How?"

She grabbed his outstretched hand, the two walking back to the cave-opening.

"Wedding planning."

The two exchanged a smile.


	26. Chapter 26

**There's still some time to come with suggestions for baby names, if you want to :)**

 **Thanks to those who favorited and followed!**

 **A special thanks** **to love . fiction.2017 who reviewed! :D**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 26**

* * *

 **2 months later**

Maria giggled, watching Steve stand there in the middle of their bedroom with a giant smile on his lips. Wanda and T'Challa, the two people who had been helping both Maria and Steve the most with the wedding planning, were standing beside her, smiling as well.

"No, you can't see it. It's bad luck," she laughed, shaking her head.

In his hand, he held her wedding dress, which was wrapped in dark plastic to both keep it a secret, and to keep it safe. He moved to their closet, opening it up only for some of their clothes to fall out.

"That looks worse than Clint's closet," chuckled Wanda. "You two need to spring clean."

Although Maria was very tempted to ask why Wanda had seen the inside of Clint's closet, she kept it to herself - only sighing and helping Steve pick up some of the clothes that had fallen out. Without thinking much of it, Steve moved some clothes out of the way to make room for her wedding dress. In doing so, her sword accidentally fell out of the closet. Maria sighed again, beginning to walk over to it. Though Steve had already picked it up before her.

Upon his fingers touching it, everyone in the room screamed out a "no!". He jumped at the sound, before glancing down at the sword. Quickly he let go of it again, and it clattered back down to the floor. She picked it up with a stunned look on her face, grabbing his arm.

"You did it again; touched it again and nothing happened…"

T'Challa narrowed his eyes.

"I did it before?" Steve breathed out.

"Yeah… During the fight at the airport. Remember?"

"I didn't think much of it…" he said.

"Didn't think much of it?" repeated Wanda with raised eyebrows. "Did you miss what happened to that new boy with the spider fetish?"

Steve looked down at the sword in her hand, his eyebrows furrowing. Then, as though nothing had happened, Steve turned away from the sword and made sure her wedding dress was hanging freely in the closet.

"Steve?" asked Maria.

"I'm sure it's nothing," began Steve before turning back to Maria. "Just gotta remember not to touch it."

"But nothing happens-"

"I know. But it's fine."

Maria glanced over at Wanda who shrugged at Steve's words, unsure of what was going on either. It seemed as though Steve knew something, but did not want to let anyone in on his suspicions. Quickly, Steve walked over to T'Challa and Wanda, changing the subject to the centrepieces they had chosen. Though Maria was not ready to let the subject go so easily. Staring down at the sword in her hand, she promised herself to remember asking Steve about this later that evening.

* * *

Later that evening, after Sam and the others had left to go to bed in their own separate huts, and Steve was doing the dishes calmly on his own in the kitchen, Maria stayed put in the doorway, unbeknownst to Steve. Her mind was dead-set on making him tell her what he had been thinking about earlier that day during the sword-incident, though as he stood there with his hands in the water, a pearl of sweat running down his forehead due to the tremendous heatwave that had hit Wakanda that month; Maria found herself only smiling at him.

There was something oddly attractive about Steve – Captain America – standing in the kitchen and doing all the work for her. She found herself understanding why men enjoyed seeing the women in the kitchen, her eyes trailing over his body.

She moved silently around the kitchen until she was next to him. As he was still a super soldier, he had heard her approach him and so he smiled kindly at her when she grabbed a towel and began to help him dry the dishes. These silent moments were something that Maria treasured a lot as they both simply moved in sync with each other, only some fleeting moments of eye contact being needed for either of them to understand what the other wanted or needed.

Steve finished before Maria, drying his hands on a second towel before turning towards her as she finished up with the last plate. A few drops of sweat had appeared on her forehead as well, yet he still moved over to her and planted a kiss to her forehead. She leaned against him as he moved his arms around her body, letting her arms stay free of the hug as she was still drying that one plate.

The baby kicked against his arm and instead of freaking out the way he had done the very first time it had happened, Steve closed the tiny gap that had been between them both and pressed another loving kiss to her head.

With difficulty, Maria placed the plate in the cupboard where it was supposed to go before turning around in his arms and returning the hug. Her belly was showing quite a lot, and hugging was not something easy at the moment, yet they tried.

"Two more weeks… Then I'll finally be rid of the name Dalton."

Steve smiled, yet his smile did not completely reach his eyes. She furrowed her brow, silently asking him what was wrong.

"Over a year ago we were fighting Ultron. Five months ago, we were fighting Tony's team… What I mean is… No matter how hard we try or how much we want to, our lives will always be parallel with that super-hero life. Who knows what dangers we need to fight in a month or two-"

"You're thinking because of the baby, things will be difficult," she deduced.

"With the baby, I don't want to go out there. But people need my help – our help."

Maria nodded. "Honestly, I try not to think about the future… We're not really, uh, family-material. And we won't be able to keep this child safe either."

"I will try my very hardest," added Steve quickly, moving one hand down to her stomach.

"So will I," said Maria quietly. "But… There's gonna be moments of danger. There's gonna be moments of despair. But when they come, we'll deal with them. If we worry about them now, we'll never be able to function."

Steve slowly nodded his head.

"Come on. Let's go to bed," smiled Maria, gently placing a hand against his cheek. "I'm exhausted."

A smile that truly did reach his eyes appeared on his lips, "Well we can't have that." With ease, Steve lifted Maria up from the floor, holding her bridal style as she laughed at him struggling to get them both through the doorway.

When they reached the bed, Maria placed a loving kiss against his nose before he gently eased her down to sit on the bed. Still smiling, Steve lowered himself to crouch down in front of her. Seductively, he let his hands trail up her legs, unbuttoning them. Her cheeks flushed and a fire ignited in her lower abdomen.

"Steve…?"

He helped her take her pants off before he moved up to her shirt, gently letting his fingers brush against her skin as he took off her shirt. Placing one soft kiss against her belly, he moved up to her lips, pressing a tremendously passionate kiss there. In the heat of the moment, she closed her eyes, moving her hands over to his shoulders to press him closer against her. However he broke the kiss off. Her eyes were still closed as he moved to stand up though she did not want to let go of him, which in the process caused her to lift her arms up as far as she could before she was forced to let his shoulders go.

Suddenly, the moment was ruined by Steve using the opportunity of her arms up in the air to tread her arms into her pyjama and pull it over her head. She pouted up at him as she sat there, fully dressed in her pyjama. Though he simply smirked down at her.

"You said you were exhausted," he explained, earning another pout from Maria.

"Fine." She let herself fall backwards onto the bed, moving up towards the pillow and turning around onto her side to watch Steve remove his clothes and put on his pyjama. Though before he put on his shirt, Maria protested, "Maybe you can keep that off?"

Steve glanced over at her, blushing slightly at her smirk.

"It's a heatwave out there after all," she smirked.

Steve chuckled, letting the pyjama shirt fall to the floor before he jumped onto the bed, causing Maria to giggle as the entire bed moved and shifted under his weight.

With Steve snuggled up against her side, one arm draped carefully around her waist, just above her belly, the two of them fell asleep.

* * *

With the smell of pancakes filling their house, Maria awoke with a smile on her face. Feeling the need to hug Steve, Maria quickly got out of bed, which was not like her as she enjoyed long lie-ins. She put on a thin robe and walked out into the kitchen with one hand over her stomach. Her eyes were still groggy and she was yawning when she entered the kitchen, causing Steve to chuckle at her.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," he commented, causing her to scoff and sit down by one of the counters. She furrowed her brow at the objects scattered on the counters in front of her and Steve turned away from the pancake he was making to explain them to her. "They arrived in the mail. Someone knows our whereabouts."

She picked up a card, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise as she read it out-loud, " _Early wedding gift. Congrats. PS, Ross doesn't know._ Do we trust him?"

She glanced at the two phones Tony had sent them, picking up the one that had a small shield at the back. Upon watching it, Steve's eyes darkened slightly and Maria knew he was still not a hundred percent sure if he was ever going to lift a shield again to be Captain America. Yet, Tony seemed to think so. A small note was attached to it.

"I don't know. I guess it's his way of keeping track of us. Question is if that's a smart idea for us to let him do," said Steve quietly, flipping the pancake once before turning back to Maria.

The note on the phone read, _'If you need_ us _, just give a call.'_

"This refers to your letter, I guess?" asked Maria, earning a nod from Steve.

She picked up the other phone, its case a dark purple one much like her suit. Upon lifting it up, the screen turned itself on. Apparently, Tony had added all contacts she had had from before, meaning also Matt's number.

"To be fair, he already knows our location. This doesn't really change much. We might as well use them," shrugged Steve, this time putting in some new batter into the pan.

"I guess…" said Maria absentmindedly, staring at Matt's number.

"Did you take your shot?" asked Steve, his voice suddenly worried. She looked up at him and shook her head no, causing him to send her a stern look.

"I'll do it, I just need to make a call…"

Steve watched her with furrowed brows as she walked to the other side of the kitchen, pressing a button on her phone before lifting it to her ear. Not forgetting about his pancakes, Steve listened in on the conversation with his super hearing.

 _"Hello?"_

"Hi…" stammered Maria, lifting a hand up to her forehead absentmindedly. "Who is this?"

 _"Who is_ this _?"_

"Uh, Maria Dalton."

Silence.

 _"The fugitive Avenger?"_

She chuckled nervously.

 _"I'm Foggy. We met once."_

"Yeah… I remember. Uh, is-is Matt around?"

 _"I guess being a fugitive also means you don't watch the news… Uh, he didn't make it."_

Maria blinked a couple times before answering, "What do you mean?"

 _"I mean he did some stuff. Tried to save New York with a group of… friends… They never found his body. I-I'm sorry."_

"Oh, okay. Thanks." With shaking hands she ended the call, staring down at the phone afterwards.

Steve had by now actually forgotten about the pancakes, one now burning in the frying pan behind him as he stared at her. She walked slowly back to her seat, avoiding eye contact with Steve and her face paling.

"Maria, go take the shot," he began before Maria began to slump in her seat. With perfect reflexes, Steve rounded the counters and grabbed her, steadying her in her seat. Her face was dangerously pale and one of her hands had moved to her stomach. She let out a soft groan before her eyes shut, her body now hanging limp in his arms.

"Maria!?"


	27. Chapter 27

**Maria will from henceforth be called Maria Rogers and I'M SUPER HAPPY ABOUT THAT! Finally...**

 **Thanks to those who favorited and followed!**

 **A special thanks** **to love . fiction.2017 who reviewed!**

* * *

 **Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 27**

* * *

Silently, Maria and Steve sat in the hospital room. Maria had a monotone look on her face, though her eyes revealed how sad she felt inside. The brims of her eyes were red, and from time to time, her eyes would fill with tears that she managed to push back enough for them to not spill over onto her cheeks.

Unsure of what to do, Steve sat next to her on a chair as well, simply holding onto her hand and watching her face intently. His face was not monotonous, but riddled with worry. Right after she had fainted, Steve had taken her straight to the hospital, not even turning off the stove, which right now was causing him some distress. She had awoken on the way to the hospital, though she had said nothing, not even when Steve had asked her questions. Maria never ignored him, and he was worried it might be something else that was causing her to unconsciously ignore him. Her face was pale, and her hands shook from exhaustion. She had barely even been able to walk up to the front desk on her own, needing Steve's full support.

The doctor entered, though only Steve looked up at him when he did.

"The test results are… worrying."

Steve froze.

"Even with the extra nutrition, her body isn't recovering. May I ask what happened before she fainted?"

"She got the news that one of her friends had died."

The doctor's eyes showed regret at asking that question, and as he looked over at Maria, he saw her eyes filling up with tears again.

"The baby is alright at the moment. The results show that every piece of nutrition is moving straight to the baby, but Maria needs some as well… For some reason, her body isn't absorbing any of it for itself. Perhaps… Perhaps you only need to talk to her. I suggest you take her back home, let her grieve and… hope for the best. I will warn you though, her body, although it has self-healing capabilities, cannot stay malnourished for much longer. She and the baby will be in danger if this goes on for too long."

Three weeks later, and Maria had barely moved from the bed. The wedding had been postponed and everyone worried. No one could make her feel better, no one could get through to her. Steve was worried sick, his heart beating fast all the time. He tried to make her talk to him, but could not. Her face paled more and more each day, her cheeks sunk in… This was beyond grief now. Something was eating her up, and Steve had to get it out of her.

One evening, when Wanda and Clint left after another failed attempt at getting her to talk, Steve heard footsteps from the bedroom. He had been sitting in the living room, staring at the black TV screen, thinking of a solution to get her to talk to him. Little did he know, that he did not have to come up with a solution on his own. Before he knew it, Maria was standing in the doorway. Although her body shook from the strain she was putting on it, she was still standing on her own, staring straight at him. Unsure of what to do, Steve stayed put on the sofa, watching her carefully as she rounded the TV and sat down on the other end of the couch. She placed an arm around her baby bump before shyly glancing over at Steve, who was still staring at her, shocked she suddenly was walking and _looking_ at him again.

"I didn't say goodbye."

Everything fell into place. How Steve had not understood it earlier was a mystery to him. Of course she missed Matt, but it had not been her grief that had caused such a catatonic state. It had been the fact that she had left him on such bad notes, not even saying goodbye, that had been eating her up. Without hesitating, Steve shuffled over to her and embraced her, cradling her body close to his. She sobbed, finally letting out the tears she had been holding in for so long…

"Matt Murdock is dead…" she wheezed in between sobs. "He was my friend…"

"I know, I know…" he hushed.

For over an hour, the two sat like that on the sofa, Maria sobbing to and fro. When she had finally calmed down, she looked up at him. Her bloodshot eyes and her paled face made her seem so weak, even though Maria Dalton was in no way weak. It only made Steve want to hold her tighter.

"I'm hungry."

The words were almost comical to him, and he smiled gently down at her. With one hand, she caressed her tearstained cheek.

"I can make pancakes."

For the first time in three weeks, she smiled.

* * *

 **One week later**

Wanda was her bridesmaid. Her hair had been pulled up into a beautiful setting held up by flowers twirled into her hair. She wore a beautiful red dress that showed off her curves and sat tightly around her waist before extending out into a flowy piece of skirts that dragged off behind her. Maria had made jokes about how her dress was more beautiful than her own, though in reality she hadn't really been joking. The whole idea of wearing white wasn't really what Maria wanted, though Steve wanted it and so she decided to go along with it.

The white dress Maria and Wanda had chosen was, however, not bad, although Steve would probably not have chosen it himself due to how open it was. But Maria was pregnant and it was hot out, so she decided she could wear whatever she wanted no matter what Steve thought. Besides, there was no safe way they could have a proper wedding night without harming both herself and the baby, so she had to tease Steve somehow.

The dress was cut open both at the front and at the back. The skin that would normally be shown was painted in a faint layer of glitter, an idea Wanda had when Maria said Steve might faint if he saw her wearing such a dress in public (no matter what he might say, he was still a true forties man in his heart) and some of the ladies living there in Wakanda had given her some bracelets to wear on her arms. And it was literally her arms and not her wrists. The bracelets were made out of silver threads who, when the bracelet was put on, created a beautiful network of silver threads all up her arms to the strap of the white dress, which happened to also have outlines of silver. Around her waist, just above her small, but still protruding, bump, a silvery belt was strapped around her dress to make sure it stayed where it was supposed to, while at the same time also making sure that her curves could be seen. She wore no bra due to complications concerning sweat and friction, which meant she felt pretty comfortable in her dress. Below the open upper part, a forest of white skirts all embroidered with tiny silvery threads flowed gracefully over her legs, stopping just above her ankles to show off the open high heels she wore underneath, while her hair was done in a similar way to Wanda's.

"You know, Steve is going to have something blue, something red and something white on."

Maria frowned, "Are you sure?"

Wanda gave Maria a look that told more than the words 'for real' could have done and Maria giggled at her friend.

"I don't mind."

"Well, I do. It means he's showing off who he is, but you're not. And you're much cooler than he is," she said, her faint accent still causing Maria to question her sexuality.

"Well, I'm known to be the, oh, what does the media call me again, oh yeah – _mother of death_ , and I don't really know how you can represent that in a beautiful way on your _wedding day._ "

Wanda smirked, "Challenge accepted."

"Wh- Wanda! I didn't mean that!"

"Well, I did."

"Alright, what did you have planned?"

"We're obviously not going to have you representing death on your wedding day. But, you told me earlier this week about what the doctors had revealed about your powers. About there being something to do with shadows?" Wanda walked around Maria as she stood before the mirror, seeming to be inspecting what Maria looked like. "So, how do you make shadows beautiful and non-creepy?"

"I don't know," shrugged Maria, perfectly content with the way she looked and just wanting to see her future husband's sexy attire and be able to call herself Mrs Rogers.

"Like so," smirked Wanda, grabbing a piece of cloth from behind Maria and showing to her what she meant.

Maria smirked.

Steve was standing in front of the waterfall, nervously biting his lip. Sam was standing next to him, looking out over the rather small group of guests who were all standing, waiting, for the bride to arrive. T'Challa, King of Wakanda, would wed them and Sam and Wanda each had a ring, serving as both bridesmaid/man of honor and ringbearer at the same time. T'Challa cleared his throat, earning the attention of Sam, before he nodded over at Steve. Sam sighed at the completely distressed look Steve had on his face.

"Relax," said Sam as he nudged Steve in the side. "What do you think is going to happen? She won't run away now, she's sorta stuck with you since you got her preggers."

"Stuck? Did she tell you this? Does she not want this?"

Sam sighed again, rolling his eyes at the 'captain' and first avenger. "You've fought Hydra. You've fought Ultron. You've fought _Tony freaking Stark_. And you're worried about this? Dude, she loves you! Look at everything she's going through just to be with you! Ya'll are fugitives!"

Steve let out a shaky breath, "You're right... I need to calm down."

"You know what you need to do? You gotta keep those arms down. You've sweated right through the fabric of your suit..."

Steve glanced down at his armpits, blushing as he realized the truth. Though before he could comment on it, music started to play indicating the bride had arrived.

"Just, stay calm, don't faint like those people on YouTube, and don't lift your arms," whispered Sam before patting Steve's shoulder, clearly enjoying the moment where he was braver than Captain America. "Good luck."

Steve swallowed, looking over at the stairs where Maria would soon descend from... And descend she did. There, glowing, glittering and looking even more beautiful than Steve had ever seen her, was his wife; Maria. Her dress was beautiful, a little too revealing in certain ways, but still beautiful. It was clear that she had thought about showing who she was as well, a white cloth hanging down from her hair to her hips which looked to have been dipped in shadows at the end – clearly a trick she was causing with her newfound powers. Around her feet, the same effect was going on, her dress looking as though she had dipped it just recently into a pool of shadows that now were dripping down as she walked and moved. However, as the shadows dripped, they did not touch the floor but simply disappeared like mist. And although she looked fearsome and beautiful all at once, it was her smile and her happy eyes that made Steve's heart melt at the sight of her. She could have worn anything – but in the end, it was that smile and those eyes that Steve found beautiful.

Reaching out a hand as she finally reached the altar, the two intertwined their fingers and turned to face each other. Wanda moved to the side, smiling over at Sam who was stood on the other side, behind Steve. The crowd was not big. Basically, only the doctor, a few of T'Challa's relatives and close friends, Scott and Clint were stood there, watching the ceremony. Though it was more than enough for Maria and Steve.

T'Challa's ceremony was a mix of Wakandan traditions and American traditions. Though mostly Wakandan. The only thing that was American to do during weddings, and which Steve and Maria also did, was to write their own vows. Wanda had helped Maria with hers, seeing as she was not the best of writers nor speakers. And together, the two had come up with a beautiful little speech that involved a few inside jokes, and a few romantic promises. Steve's smile never faltered as he listened to her and watched her put the ring Wanda had given her onto his finger.

Though it was not her speech which people would remember. It was Steve's.

He cleared his throat before beginning to speak, both his hands holding onto hers, "When I first met you, I was a broken man. A man out of time. A man with no friends. All I knew was who I was, though I was no longer needed in the world in the same way I previously was. In short, I was only half of what I used to be. _A_ half.

"And then Coulson picked me up on that street in New York, and you stepped out of the SUV as well. I was nearly swept off my feet right there and then, blinded by your beauty. I thought I was simply being taken to a mission, but it turns out, I was being taken to you.

"I soon found out that you were just as broken as I was." Maria chuckled at his words, causing him to smile. "And you understood me. It was a sensation I had never really felt and I could not explain either. Not until after I had proposed to you the first time did I find out what I actually felt.

"Remember when we were dared to lift Thor's hammer? Remember how we put our hands on its shaft and actually managed to lift it, though we both refused to due to what might actually happen? I do too. And I want you to keep that in mind for a little while longer.

"Remember when we were at the airport, and you had hurt your hand and I helped you up, grabbing your sword and handing it to you? Do you remember when I did the same thing a month back? And the sword did not react to me like it would with others? Keep it in mind for a little while longer.

"Love. That is obviously what I felt for you. But I knew that way before I proposed that first time. It was not just love that I felt. It was more. You see Maria, I believe I was a half. And you were a half. And together we make a whole. That is why we together can lift Thor's hammer. That is why we both can hold your sword… That is why we are standing here today, deciding to take on the same surname. That is why we love each other.

"And I promise you, Maria, that, no matter what, we will always stay as two parts of a whole."

Maria stared up at him, her smile gone out of shock of what he had told her. She did not even look down at her own hand to see him putting on the wedding ring Sam handed him... Her heart had basically melted by now and she was actually unsure of whether or not it was still beating. Everything was out of focus, everything apart from Steve.

T'Challa smiled at the two of them, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may-" Before he had even finished his sentence, Maria caved to the feelings that Steve had stirred inside of her with that speech, grabbing his face and kissing him square on his lips. "-uh, kiss the bri-husband."

Steve stumbled slightly at the harsh kiss, though melted into it at last, gently moving closer to her while she let her arms lock around his neck. Wanda, Sam, Clint and Scott applauded the two of them loudly.

"Maria Rogers," breathed Steve quietly as she ended the kiss.

"Finally…" she breathed back, kissing him again.


	28. Chapter 28

**Make You Feel My Love  
** **~Book IV~**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

 **Chapter 28**

* * *

 **4 months later**

"You were sleepwalking again last night."

Maria sighed. She was sitting in the sofa, next to the wheelchair she had been confined to a month back. As the baby grew more and more, Maria became weaker and weaker, by now only depending on her powers to keep her alive. She could see it bothered Steve tremendously, seeing her in such a weak state, but she kept up the façade that she was alright which seemed to calm him down a bit. Lies were no good in a marriage, of course, but sometimes one had to tweak the truth a bit in order for the other to feel better.

Marriage, it was such a strange word to her. Never had she really thought she would marry or even find someone that loved her back. And of course she had never really thought that person would be Steve, a hero who during his lifetime only had done good deeds, while she had done… other sort of deeds. The fact that they now were two parts of a whole made her smile a lot, and Steve sometimes caught her smiling to herself when she was sitting watching TV or reading a book.

"What did I do this time?"

"You walked to the living room and turned the TV on. Said your show was on," remembered Steve before chuckling. "And then I guess your strength sort of faltered 'cause you suddenly exclaimed you were going to take a nap, and then you fell back asleep."

Maria shook her head but still smiled, "At least that was it. I didn't scare you this time."

Steve sat down next to her, placing an arm around her while she cuddled up next to him.

"Don't you worry about me. I can handle it."

She hummed a yes, suddenly feeling overpowered by her own fatigue, the warmth Steve provided not helping her to stay awake.

Sleepwalking was a side effect Maria had gotten during her last months of pregnancy. Exactly why, the doctors couldn't tell them, but it sometimes turned rather creepy. Steve had told her how he had awoken to find Maria standing in a corner, facing the wall or finding her collapsed on the kitchen floor. Each night was a rollercoaster for the both of them, and not just because of the sleepwalking.

The past month, Maria had sometimes awoken to extreme pains, which the doctors had deduced were Braxton Hicks. Pains that actually caused her to scream out in pain and also cause her to become completely confused, not knowing where she was and sometimes even who she was. Now that it was only two days to her due date, both she and Steve entered a state of panic whenever those pains did arrive, thinking it might not be simple Braxton Hicks anymore. Though so far, no baby had wanted to come out yet.

A small room close-by their own bedroom had been prepared for the baby; a small nursery. Sam and Scott – the two people who neither Steve nor Maria had thought would actually do the job – had taken it upon themselves to decorate the entire room. Clint had helped sort out what stuff they needed while Wanda stayed with Maria during the days, keeping her company when Maria was not taking naps. Better friends were hard to find.

So far, however, there were no real plans on making the nursery into the baby's actual room. This because neither of them knew for how long they were going to stay. The news sometimes showed some horrible event Steve and the others could have helped prevent, and Maria knew that Steve, albeit he never said it out loud, longed to be back out there and help the people in need. Maria did too, actually, and at some point, they would. The other Avengers could not stay hold up in Wakanda forever either, and there would come a point, now sooner than ever, where they would leave the safety of Wakanda. Therefore, making plans far into the future was not something either of them did.

Eventually, Maria did doze off, because she was suddenly awoken by Steve shaking her arm, trying his best to wake her up.

"What?" she snapped, furrowing her brow while shielding her eyes from the light.

"Maria, come on, you gotta work with me here." The worry and panic in his voice caused Maria to tense up, her mind going into red alert. She opened her eyes, not caring if the light hurt her eyes and searched for Steve. He was not hard to find though as he was crouched right in front of her, both his hands holding her upright.

"What…?"

"Okay? You gotta get into the wheelchair, honey… You ready?"

"What is happening?" she asked, though did exactly what he told her to, holding onto his arms as she, weaker than she normally was, hobbled over to her wheelchair. Her large baby bump felt slightly pained, though at the same time she had never felt better in her life. Weak, yes, but there was a sense of serenity inside of her that she could not quite understand.

His eyes still filled with panic and with a worried crease in his forehead, Steve started to wheel her towards the front door.

"Steve, I'm still in my pajamas – what is happening?"

"It's like those nights when you wake up in pain. Only it's not night."

"Braxton Hicks can happen during the day too, Steve. I don't feel any-" As though on cue, she doubled over in pain, letting out a weak little whimper before suddenly fainting again. Steve gently shifted her so she was sitting upright again, opening the front door for them to leave through.

He put on his shoes, needing to crouch down next to the unconscious Maria. Being in eye-level with the baby bump caused him to suddenly feel a sort of strange calmness as well. He had a purpose with this panic, he had a purpose with this worry. He was going to be a father. And with Maria too weak to even stay awake during the, what he supposed were, contractions, it was all up to him now. He went into Captain America mode right then and there, the panic dissipating slightly.

Gently, he placed a hand on her belly, "I guess we'll see you soon, little one."

* * *

The midwives and the doctor were running in and out of the room, though Steve barely noticed them. He only noticed Maria's pale face and tired eyes. The both of them were staring at each other, smiling widely. In order for Maria to stay awake, her body was being pumped full with painkillers and drugs continuously. Had she only gotten one injection, her body's powers would have gotten rid of it a long time ago, therefore she needed to have the painkillers injected into her continuously. A long needle had been injected into her arm, its syringe covered in Hydrus Acidulus, Maria's Kryptonite, to keep her skin from healing to the point where it broke the syringe.

She felt no pain, though the machine next to her showed her whenever she did have a contraction. The way the needle suddenly began to move back and forth quickly and sporadically just showed to Maria how grateful she was that she was not feeling those pains.

The two knew what gender the baby was going to be, yet Maria had still chosen pink clothes for the little baby to be put in after the birth. Mostly because she found pink clothing on a baby adorable, but also because colors were not connected to gender according to Maria and Steve.

She reached out a hand towards Steve which he quickly took. Without saying a word, she nodded her head and Steve's smile grew even more. The two knew they were both ready. They had saved the world at least twice now, to then also give something as beloved as their son to the world was something they both were ready for.

While still having their fingers intertwined with each other, Maria was ordered to push. She stared at the midwife in front of her, following her orders blindly as she herself could feel none of the signals her body sent her. After what seemed to be five minutes but what later turned out to actually be seven hours worth of pushing and long pauses, Maria was ordered to lay back down. The midwife struggled with something and Steve watched with wide eyes. The serenity Maria had felt during the entire labor, that strange warm feeling she had not quite been able to pin point where it came from, was suddenly explained to her when the cries of a small infant filled the room.

Love.

Just pure love.

She began to cry and Steve wiped her tears, whispering words of praise and love to her. With a smile on her lips, the midwife lifted their newborn son over to Maria who, with newfound maternal instincts immediately placed the little baby against her chest, cradling him. The moment the boy's cheek touched her skin, the baby stopped crying. Maria could feel his little heart beating furiously, panicked, though he slowly calmed down, cuddling against his mother's warmth. The trauma of birth seemed already forgotten as the little boy found its way back to his mama.

Steve and Maria were now no longer two parts of a whole. Instead, the three of them were three parts of one whole now. A family.

The midwives finished what they had to do, taking their little boy away from them for just a few seconds to weigh and check up on him before they left the three to get acquainted to each other. Maria covered up her son with the blankets she had around her, placing soft kisses against the top of his head continuously.

Steve gently stroked his cheek, adoring the softness of the baby's still untainted skin and smiled. He kissed his wife passionately before, albeit very, very carefully, kissing the top of his son's head.

"Welcome to the world Joseph James Rogers," he whispered into his son's ear, smiling widely.

"We will make sure the world stays safe for you. That will be how we make you feel our love."

* * *

 **Well, that was it! I mean there will be more once the next movie comes out, but as some of you might have realized, this is more of an ending than what the previous stories have had. I wrote it like this so that, in case I can't continue, this actually had a proper ending. I mean you never know what's gonna happen within the span of six months (I actually have no idea when the next movie is due to come out, but I'm guessing late spring XD ), so I gotta be prepared.**

 **But I obviously plan on writing more XD I have so many more ideas! Especially ideas concerning little Joseph! :D**

 **Special thanks to love . fiction. 2017 who reviewed a lot and gave me a lot of motivation to continue writing. And of course also a special thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited, followed and simply read what I've been writing. You are all angels in my eyes!**

 **I hope you guys liked reading this as much as I liked writing it! I'll see you all after infinity war comes out!**


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